  a parish is a church territorial unit constituting a division of a diocese. a parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or more curates, and who operates from a parish church. historically, a parish often covered the same geographical area as a manor (while still being defined by the parish church). by extension the term parish refers not only to the territorial unit but to the people of its community or congregation as well as to church property within it. in england this church property was technically in the ownership of the parish priest, vested in him on his institution to that parish. ==etymology and use== first attested in english in the late 13th-century, the word parish comes from the old french paroisse, in turn from ,paroecia, charlton t. lewis, charles short, a latin dictionary, on perseus the latinisation of the , "sojourning in a foreign land",ÏÎ±ÏÎ¿Î¹ÎºÎ¯Î±, henry george liddell, robert scott, a greek-english lexicon, on perseus itself from  (paroikos), "dwelling beside, stranger, sojourner", ÏÎ¬ÏÎ¿Î¹ÎºÎ¿Ï, henry george liddell, robert scott, a greek-english lexicon, on perseus which is a compound of  (para), "beside, by, near"ÏÎ±ÏÎ¬, henry george liddell, robert scott, a greek-english lexicon, on perseus +  (oikos), "house".Î¿á¼¶ÎºÎ¿Ï, henry george liddell, robert scott, a greek-english lexicon, on perseus as an ancient concept, the term "parish" occurs in the long-established christian denominations: roman catholic, anglican communion, the eastern orthodox church, and lutheran 
Anglicanism Christian_terminology Church_parishes Types_of_Christian_organization Types_of_Roman_Catholic_organization