Excellent thoughts on parishes. As a deacon in North Carolina, and having served widely in Latin America, I believe parishes perform much the same social/religious functions today. In Brazil we had over 100,000 base church communities, but all (to my knowledge) constituted parts of parishes. An interesting feature of the Catholic parish is that the pastor has a responsibility for all souls in his parish territory, whether or not they are Catholic.
Excellent thoughts on parishes. As a deacon in North Carolina, and having served widely in Latin America, I believe parishes perform much the same social/religious functions today. In Brazil we had over 100,000 base church communities, but all (to my knowledge) constituted parts of parishes. An interesting feature of the Catholic parish is that the pastor has a responsibility for all souls in his parish territory, whether or not they are Catholic.