§ 124. The General Rights and Duties of the Parish Priest

What the significance of the parish priest and of the parish office is, we have seen (§. 121). In view of the fullness of spiritual authority in every branch, which the bishop possesses by divine right in his diocese over all the clergy and people in every place, the bishop is the general parish priest of his whole diocese. With regard to this, the authority of a parish priest in the parish concerned is not an authority that exists independently, but he exercises that authority as deputy and representative of his bishop in a designated place and at a designated church. But even despite this character of his, this authority differs from every other authority which the bishop delegates, within the bounds of his diocese, to other priests, for example, to district church overseers (protopresbyters), monastery superiors, confessors, preachers, and so on. These priests possess only a delegated authority from the bishop, which may last even for the whole life of the person concerned, but which the bishop may, at his own discretion, also revoke; whereas the authority of parish priests is regular and permanent, and he is installed in the parish concerned as the permanent deputy of the bishop in the pastoral office and for his whole life, nor can it be taken from him except in consequence of some fault of his, and that only after formal judicial proceedings.

The authority of the parish priest concerned, in the sense we have just given, extends over the whole territory of the parish in question within the bounds established by law. Canon 17 of the Fourth Ecumenical Council prescribes that the boundaries of a church district must be exactly determined and that no one may violate them, especially if they are justified by legal prescription, which the canon extends to thirty years, and that in the event any dispute arises about boundaries, the competent authorities must decide upon it.[1] Within the bounds of the parish concerned no priest, save the parish priest, is empowered to perform any divine service, nor to exercise any jurisdiction whatsoever.[2]

All persons who reside permanently or temporarily in the parish are subject to the authority of the parish priest. Strangers who happen to be present in the parish for some time are likewise subject to it, insofar as those strangers should require some church or pastoral service, since only the parish priest has the right to perform such a service for those strangers as well. Likewise subject to the parish priest’s authority are soldiers who do not belong to the regular army but who reside permanently in the parish.[3]

For all these persons, within the bounds of the parish, the lawfully appointed parish priest is the permanent and regular performer of every divine service according to his hierarchical rank; he is the permanent and regular teacher and preacher of the word of God, and, finally, he is the permanent and regular administrator of everything concerning church-liturgical, as likewise church-administrative, life in the parish. As such he has the right to the remuneration established by law (§. 166), and he has the right to the place of honor, both at private and at church-communal gatherings (§. 123).