Common Terms and Phrases used in the Seek the City Proposal

Seek the City to Come is an initiative of the Archdiocese of Baltimore that began nearly two years ago to reimagine and realign the Catholic Church in Baltimore City. A proposal, based on listening, learning and praying, has been developed to include the creation of newly formed parishes as existing places of worship merge to realign the Church in Baltimore and grow stronger for the future.

Explore these definitions for a better understanding of what this all means:

Newly formed parish will be a Sacramental hub, spiritual home and distinct entity that will be created from parishes that will be merged together. This new parish will be a fresh start for all of the faithful who will come together to worship, determining ministry roles together and, in some cases, renaming the church. Finances will also be a factor for newly formed parishes that will combine physical assets and debts of parishes that are merged. Assets include investments, buildings and endowments. This means that any future revenue derived from the sale of land and parish buildings (including churches) will belong to the new parish after debts are settled. This approach is required by the Church law. Because these assets and monies are only owned by the parishes, these funds do not flow to the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

Seated parish is the place where Sunday and daily Masses will be held for the newly formed parish. A seated parish is created by the merger of local churches and congregations into a physical space.

Merger is a process that combines at least two parishes into a sole entity. This includes blending all components of each joining parish – including formation activities, Sacramental records, assets and debts and ministry outreach – and establishing singular local parish leadership.

Parish territory is a geographic boundary that incorporates communities into designated local churches for pastoral care and evangelization. As part of the Seek the City process, parish territories will be redrawn to reflect newly formed parishes.

Personal parishes do not have physical territories. Personal parishes can be established by reason of rite, language, nationality and charism, among other basis. Under the current proposal, St. Ignatius Parish would be designated as a personal parish tied to the Jesuit charism, which means that it would carry out the vision of the founder of the religious order; in this case, St. Ignatius Loyola.

Worship site describes the physical place where Mass and other Sacraments will be celebrated. Church buildings that are not designated as worship sites will not have Sunday or daily Mass at that location but will still – at least temporarily – be available for baptisms, weddings and funerals. The delivery of these Sacraments could continue until the future disposition of that church building is determined. Some newly formed parishes that have more than one worship site may continue to have Mass and other Sacraments along with specific parish ministry at more than one location. The schedule for implementation of Seek the City to Come is not determined; the timeframe will vary depending on the needs of the specific parish mergers.