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Ecclesiastical Region

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Ecclesiastical Region
Controlling authority CIC canons 433–434
Status Binding Latin canonical grouping; concrete erection and personality follow the Holy See's act

Ecclesiastical Region is a grouping which the Holy See may establish by uniting neighboring Latin ecclesiastical provinces when pastoral advantage recommends broader regional cooperation.

Disciplinary status: Church discipline

Overview

An ecclesiastical region (Latin: regio ecclesiastica) is a formally organised geographical group of dioceses, ecclesiastical provinces or parishes, without a proper Ordinary as such, in Catholic or Protestant Churches.

A grouping above provinces

Canon 433 permits the Holy See, at the request of the episcopal conference, to unite neighboring Ecclesiastical Provinces into a region, especially where Particular Churches are numerous. The region can be erected as a Juridic Person, but that personality is not automatic merely because bishops use a regional label.[1][2]

An Ecclesiastical Region is not itself a Diocese, a Particular Church, or a Church sui iuris. It coordinates provinces whose dioceses and other Particular Churches retain their own pastors and canonical identity. Civil administrative regions can supply practical boundaries without becoming ecclesiastical institutions by that fact.[3]

Meeting of regional bishops

The bishops' regional meeting fosters cooperation and common pastoral action. Canon 434 expressly denies it the powers of an episcopal conference unless the Holy See grants particular powers, so a regional vote cannot silently legislate with conference competence.

Province and conference

The Ecclesiastical Province has a metropolitan and provincial council with powers given by law. The episcopal conference ordinarily operates at national or otherwise approved scope. The region sits between or across these levels for coordination but does not absorb either institution.

Erection, governance, and juridic personality

Only the Holy See erects the canonical region under canon 433. The constituting act and approved arrangements determine its name, member provinces, organs, representation, patrimony, and whether it possesses juridic personality capable of owning goods or acting canonically.

Because the universal code assigns few powers to the region itself, no regional ordinary, metropolitan of the whole region, or appellate authority arises from the regional title alone. Offices and commissions can serve the bishops without acquiring power beyond their mandate.

Other uses of region

Religious institutes, tribunals, seminaries, pastoral organizations, and civil governments also speak of regions. A religious province or administrative region is not an Ecclesiastical Region under canons 433–434 unless competent ecclesiastical law establishes that exact form.

A region may be canonical, pastoral, statistical, or civil. When no formal erection exists, the lower-case descriptive phrase regional grouping is more exact than a title that implies powers the bishops do not possess under canon law.

Catholic Church

Apart from historical other uses, there are presently ecclesiastical regions, grouping parts of the extensive episcopate in five Catholic countries.

The equivalent 'apostolic regions' in France, created in 1961, were suppressed in 2004.

Italy

The Catholic Church in Italy is divided into 16 ecclesiastical regions. The regions mostly correspond to the 20 civil administrative regions of Italy.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

  1. Abruzzo-Molise (joining those two administrative regions)
  2. Basilicata
  3. Calabria
  4. Campania
  5. Emilia-Romagna
  6. Lazio = Latium
  7. Liguria
  8. Lombardy (Lombardia)
  9. Marche(s)
  10. Piemonte (Piedmont), including Valle d'Aosta
  11. Puglia (Apulia)
  12. Sardinia (Sardegna)
  13. Sicily (Sicilia)
  14. Tuscany (Toscana)
  15. Triveneto (i.e. Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Trentino-Alto Adige)
  16. Umbria.

Brazil

The regions -covering the federal state(s) in parentheses- comprise the following ecclesiastical province(s):

  1. Regional Norte (North) 1 (Amazonas e Roraima): Manaus (1952)
  2. Regional Norte 2 (Pará e Amapá): Belém do Pará (1906)
  3. Regional Nordeste (NE) 1 (Ceará): Fortaleza (1915)
  4. Regional Nordeste 2 (Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte e Alagoas): Maceió (1920), Natal (1952), Olinda e Recife (1910), Paraíba (1914)
  5. Regional Nordeste 3 (Bahia e Sergipe): Aracaju (1960), Feira de Santana (2002), San Salvador di Bahia (1676), Vitória da Conquista (2002)
  6. Regional Nordeste 4 (Piauí): Teresina (1952)
  7. Regional Nordeste 5 (Maranhão) Provincia ecclesiastica di São Luís do Maranhão (1922)
  8. Regional Leste (East) 1 (Rio de Janeiro); Niterói (1960), Rio de Janeiro (1892)
  9. Regional Leste 2 (Minas Gerais e Espírito Santo): Belo Horizonte (1924), Diamantina (1917), Juiz de Fora (1962), Mariana (1906), Montes Claros (2001), Pouso Alegre (1962), Uberaba (1962), Vitória (1958)
  10. Regional Sul (South) 1 (São Paulo): Aparecida (1958), Botucatu (1958), Campinas (1958), Ribeirão Preto (1958), San Paolo (1908), Sorocaba (1992)
  11. Regional Sul 2 (Paraná): Cascavel (1979), Curitiba (1926), Curitiba degli Ucraini (2014), Londrina (1970), Maringá (1979)
  12. Regional Sul 3 (Rio Grande do Sul): Passo Fundo (2011), Pelotas (2011), Porto Alegre (1910), Santa Maria (2011)
  13. Regional Sul 4 (Santa Catarina): Florianópolis (1927)
  14. Regional Centro-Oeste (Center-West) (Goiás, Distrito Federal e Tocantins): Brasília (1960), Goiânia (1956), Palmas (1996) and the army bishopric Ordinariato militare in Brasile (1950)
  15. Regional Oeste (West) 1 (Mato Grosso do Sul): Campo Grande (1979)
  16. Regional Oeste 2 (Mato Grosso): Cuiabá (1910)
  17. Regional Noroeste (NW) (Rondônia, Acre e Amazonas): Porto Velho (1982)

Canada

Four regions, each comprising several Latin provinces - Ontario and West also the Eastern Catholic province/eparchies, West also a non-metropolitan Latin archdiocese:

  1. Ontario (Assembly of Catholic Bishops of Ontario): Kingston, Ottawa, Toronto, Ukrainian Eparchy of Toronto, Chaldean Eparchy of Mar Addai off Toronto, Ruthenian Eparchy of Saints Cyril and Metodius of Toronto
  2. West (Assembly of Western Catholic Bishops): Edmonton, Grouard-McLennan, Keewatin-Le Pas, Regina, Vancouver, (Latin archdiocese of) Winnipeg, Ukrainian province of Winnipeg
  3. Atlantic (Atlantic Episcopal Assembly): Halifax-Yarmouth, Moncton, Saint John's
  4. Québec ([francophone] Assemblée des évêques catholiques du Québec): Gatineau, Quebec, Rimouski, Montréal, Sherbrooke, Maronite Eparchy of Saint Maron of Montréal, Melkite Eparchy of the Salvator of Montréal

Mexico

Each region covers one or more ecclesiastical provinces:

  1. Sur (South): Acapulco
  2. Pacífico-Sur: Antequera, Tuxtla Gutiérrez
  3. Norte (North): Chihuahua
  4. Metropolitana (federal capital): Archdiocese Ciudad Mexico (cfr. below)
  5. Metro-Circundante: Tlalnepantla, Ciudad Mexico (only suffragans in province, so excepting Ciudad Mexico itself, which constitutes its own region above)
  6. Vizcaya-Pacifico: Durango
  7. Occidente (West): Guadalajara
  8. Noroeste (NW): Hermosillo, Tijuana
  9. Noreste (NE): Monterrey
  10. Golfo: Jalapa
  11. Bajío: León, San Luis Potosí
  12. Don Vasco: Morelia
  13. Oriente (East): Puebla de los Ángeles
  14. Centro (Central): Tulancingo
  15. Sureste (SE): Yucatán

United States

See: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops § Regions

The dioceses of the United States are grouped into fifteen regions which, strictly speaking, are not "ecclesiastical regions" established by the Holy See, but rather regions that the USCCB established for convenience. They are not canonically established bodies. Fourteen of the regions (numbered I through XIV) are geographically based, for the Latin Catholic dioceses, the Eastern Catholic eparchies (dioceses) constitute the overlapping 'Region' XV.

Bishops' Region I

Ecclesiastical province of Boston, comprising the states of Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Ecclesiastical province of Hartford, comprising the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island, as well as Fishers Island in the state of New York.

Bishops' Region II

Ecclesiastical province of New York, comprising the state of New York except for Fishers Island.

Bishops' Region III

Ecclesiastical province of Newark, comprising the state of New Jersey.
Ecclesiastical province of Philadelphia, comprising the state of Pennsylvania.

Bishops' Region IV

Ecclesiastical province of Baltimore, comprising most of the state of Maryland as well as the states of Delaware, Virginia and West Virginia.
Ecclesiastical province of Washington, comprising the District of Columbia, 5 counties in southern Maryland, and the United States Virgin Islands.

Bishops' Region V

Ecclesiastical province of Louisville, comprising the states of Kentucky and Tennessee.
Ecclesiastical province of Mobile, comprising the states of Alabama and Mississippi.
Ecclesiastical province of New Orleans, comprising the state of Louisiana.

Bishops' Region VI

Ecclesiastical province of Cincinnati, comprising the state of Ohio.
Ecclesiastical province of Detroit, comprising the state of Michigan.

Bishops' Region VII

Ecclesiastical province of Chicago, comprising the state of Illinois.
Ecclesiastical province of Indianapolis, comprising the state of Indiana.
Ecclesiastical province of Milwaukee, comprising the state of Wisconsin.

Bishops' Region VIII

Ecclesiastical province of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, comprising the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota.

Bishops' Region IX

Ecclesiastical province of Dubuque, comprising the state of Iowa.
Ecclesiastical province of Kansas City, comprising the state of Kansas.
Ecclesiastical province of Omaha, comprising the state of Nebraska.
Ecclesiastical province of Saint Louis, comprising the state of Missouri.

Bishops' Region X

Ecclesiastical province of Galveston-Houston, comprising the east and southeast parts of the state of Texas.
Ecclesiastical province of San Antonio, comprising the west and north of the state of Texas.
Ecclesiastical province of Oklahoma City, comprising the states of Arkansas and Oklahoma.
Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, comprising former Anglicans throughout the United States (and Canada).

Bishops' Region XI

Ecclesiastical province of Los Angeles, comprising the southern part of the state of California.
Ecclesiastical province of San Francisco, comprising the northern part of the state of California and the state of Hawaii (in Oceania).

Bishops' Region XII

Ecclesiastical province of Anchorage-Juneau, comprising the state of Alaska.
Ecclesiastical province of Portland in Oregon, comprising the states of Idaho, Montana and Oregon, except for the parts of Yellowstone National Park in the states of Idaho and Montana.
Ecclesiastical province of Seattle, comprising the state of Washington

Bishops' Region XIII

Ecclesiastical province of Denver, comprising the states of Colorado and Wyoming, as well as the parts of Yellowstone National Park in the states of Idaho and Montana.
Ecclesiastical province of Las Vegas, comprising the states of Nevada and Utah.
Ecclesiastical province of Santa Fe, comprising the states of Arizona and New Mexico.

Bishops' Region XIV

Ecclesiastical province of Miami, comprising the state of Florida.
Ecclesiastical province of Atlanta, comprising the states of Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Bishops' "Region" XV – Eastern Catholic Eparchies and Archeparchies

This is not a geographical region and it does not consist of ecclesiastical provinces. Instead, it consists exclusively of US branches of various, generally Europe or Asia-based, particular Eastern Catholic Churches. See the Eastern Catholic Churches section (below) for their particular hierarchies.

Antiochian rites
Maronite Church
Syriac Catholic Church
Syro-Malankara Catholic Church
Armenian rite
Armenian Catholic Church
Byzantine (Constantinopolitan) rites
Melkite Greek Catholic Church
Romanian Catholic Church
Ruthenian Catholic Church

Ecclesiastical province of the Ruthenian Catholic Metropolitan Church of Pittsburgh

Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church

Ecclesiastical Province of Philadelphia

Syro-Oriental Rites
Chaldean Catholic Church
Syro-Malabar Catholic Church

References

  1. Back to citation Code of Canon Law, canons 431–459 — Binding Latin law on ecclesiastical provinces, ecclesiastical regions, metropolitans, particular councils, and episcopal conferences.
  2. Back to citation Lumen gentium — Vatican II's dogmatic constitution on the universal Church, particular Churches, episcopal office, hierarchical communion, and incorporation.
  3. Back to citation Code of Canon Law, canons 368–430 — Binding Latin law on dioceses and equivalent particular Churches, apostolic administrations, territorial and personal delimitation, diocesan power, and vacant sees.
  4. Back to citation "Bishops and Dioceses". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
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