QUASI PARISH PRIESTS. - They are secular priests or religious appointed to the quasi-parishes of the vicariates and apostolic prefectures.
The territories of these ecclesiastical circumscriptions, which for the most part depend on the S. Congr. of Propaganda Fide (a few others on the S. Congr. Oriental), are divided into distinct fractions, at least in those places where this is possible; to each of these subdivisions a particular church is assigned with a group of faithful, over whom a rector of its own presides; this portion of territory takes the name of quasi-parish.
The instruction of the S. Congr. of Propaganda Fide of 25 July 1920 (Sylloge P. F., n. 82) reconfirms the obligation to divide the territory into quasi-parishes and furthermore gives precise norms concerning their erection, while however permitting that part of the quasi-diocese remain undivided and governed in the form of mission stations (v.) by vicar co-operators. The same faculty is granted also for mission dioceses by the instruction of 9 Dec. 1920 (ibid., n. 85), which gives bishops the faculty to appoint religious to the direction of parishes when there is a lack of suitable secular priests.
Quasi-pastors are equated with pastors with all rights and obligations, and in the canonical order they come under the name of pastors (can. 451 § 2). To them, therefore, apply all the norms that govern the institution of pastors (v. especially cann. 454 § 4; 456; 461; 1356).
There are only a few particularities that concern both the appointment of quasi-pastors and their obligations. In relation to stability they are considered as removable pastors, that is, they can be removed from their office without a true and proper administrative process. Their election, moreover, if they are chosen from the secular clergy, is reserved to the local Ordinary, with the consultative vote of the members of his own council, composed of 3 of the oldest and most prudent missionaries (cann. 302, 457); if they belong to the regular clergy, the norms established for the election of religious pastors must be observed (can. 456). These formalities are not required for validity, but so that unsuitable persons may not be chosen, whether for lack of a solid faith or for lack of knowledge of the language and of the customs and traditions of the place; defects that could give occasion for scandal and bring harm to the mission.
Among the obligations different from those of pastors, that of the application of Holy Mass stands out. The days on which quasi-pastors are obliged to apply Holy Mass for their faithful are: the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Epiphany, the days of Easter, of the Ascension, of Pentecost, of Corpus Domini, of the Immaculate Conception and of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, of St. Joseph, of the Sts. Apostles Peter and Paul, and of All Saints. This obligation, which is real and personal like that of pastors, differs only in the number of applications (cann. 306, 466).
The same obligations are held by the pastors of mission dioceses to whom the same statutes that regulate quasi-pastors have been applied (cf. the decree of the S. Congr. of Prop. Fide of 9 Dec. 1920: AAS, 13 [1920], p. 17). This norm cannot be extended to parishes that have been reserved to the competence of the S. Congregation Consistorial (S. Congr. Consistorial, 1 Aug. 1919: AAS, 1 [1919], p. 346).
Finally, quasi-parishes are subject to the seminary tax, even if all their revenues are derived solely from the offerings of the faithful (can. 1356).
Bibliography
Giuseppe Damizia
