ABSTRACT
The worship of God, in whatever way worship is interpreted, is the fundamental purpose of the Church and, for that matter, of all Christians – indeed, of all, Christians or not, who believe in the existence of a creator God. One would have expected the parish, which brings people together for worship, therefore, to have ranked high in Catholic reflection and debate. It doesn’t, though there is quite a
range of canons (Church law) relating to the parish. The relatively small amount of discussion about the parish possibly reflects the ambiguity between a parish and the diocese to which it belongs.
