Folia Canonica 5. (2002)
STUDIES - John D. Faris: Territory and the Eastern Catholic Experience in the United States
56 JOHN D. FARIS The Eparchy of Saint Thomas the Apostle of Detroit serves the faithful of the Chaldean Church in the United States.22 In 2001, the Eparchy of St. Thomas of Chicago for the Syro-Malabars was established. The first bishop, Mar Jacob Angadiath, will also serve as the permanent apostolic visitor to the Syro-Malabar Catholics in Canada. Lastly, a bishop was appointed as apostolic visitor for the Syro-Malankara faithful of North America, Canada and Europe. Since an apostolic visitor is not canonically considered a hierarch, the bishop was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of Trivandrum, India. Establishment of Parishes Before Vatican II, in order for a parish to be established in consideration of any factor other than territory, the bishop was obliged to obtain the permission of the Apostolic See.23 As indicated above, both post-Vatican II codes do not consider territory to be an exclusive factor in the establishment of parishes and, in place of requiring special permission, encourage bishops to establish parishes in consideration of rite or language. Territory is only a secondary factor. Historically, it was common that the establishment of local parishes for the various ritual and ethnic groups preceded the establishment of a hierarchy. For those churches lacking a bishop (i.e., all the Eastern Catholic churches except the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and Ruthenian Church), the local Latin bishop established the parish that was subject to him. When they were appointed, one of the first tasks of the Eastern Catholic hierarchs was to transfer the parishes—and the clergy—to his own jurisdiction. TERRITORY AND A MULTIPLICITY OF CHURCHES In order to demonstrate the results of the establishment of multiple parochial structures and hierarchies in the United States, permit me to use the example of the small town of my birth, Uniontown, Pennsylvania. In this town of 12,034, there are six Catholic parishes. Four of the parishes are Latin Rite, respectively assigned to the Irish, the Polish, the Slovak and Italian ethnic communities. With the predominantly Irish hierarchy, the Irish parish, St. John the Evangelist, is designated as the territorial parish of the entire town. Under such an arrange22 The Apostolic Exarchate for the Faithful of the Chaldean Rite residing in the United States of America was established in 1982. The jurisdiction was elevated to the status of an Eparchy on 3 August 1985. 23 See 17C/C c. 216 §4.
