Diocese (and Parish)

The Church is not a federation of parishes; she is a communion of dioceses. A diocese is a portion of the people of God entrusted to a bishop; some dioceses are archdioceses and serve as metropolitan sees, and the Catechism says that in it the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church is truly present and at work. Parishes are the neighbourhood communities within it, each with a pastor appointed by the bishop; the parish is where most Catholics meet the Church, at Sunday Mass, in the sacraments, and in the parish's works of charity. The word “diocese” was borrowed from the administrative districts of the late Roman Empire.