Can. 515 §1. A parish is a certain community of the Christian faithful stably constituted in a particular church, whose pastoral care is entrusted to a pastor (parochus) as its proper pastor (pastor) under the authority of the diocesan bishop.
Where there is no community stably constituted, there is in the end no parish. Compare the parish registries of 100 years ago to those of today. When looking at that parish registry of 100 years ago, scratch off every name that doesn’t have at least one descendant in the parish registry of today. Yes, many of the descendants have moved on to different parishes, but that is kind of the point. It is the community that makes the parish. Where modernism has ripped apart the community, there is little wonder that the parish has been weakened in its wake. Our cities have seen their cores rotted out. The donut diocese is quite common: a cathedral planted in a desolate city surrounded by suburban parishes with large collections. This has been repeated among the mainline Protestant peers.
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