The parish

Every diocese is divided up into parishes, each of which is under the care of a parish priest.  Priests are the bishop’s representatives and shepherds of the Christian Family within each parish.  So, when priests are instituted, that is, when they are actually made rector or vicar of the parish, the bishop says to them, “Receive this cure (that is, care) of souls, which is both yours and mine”.

Rectors and vicars

You may be interested to know why some parishes have rectors and others have vicars.  Years and years ago a certain amount of land was set apart in each parish for the parish priest, so that, if he wanted to, he could let it and receive rent for it.  If the rent was paid straight to the parish priest, he was known as the rector.  Sometimes, however, the care of the parish, and also the Church land which went with it, were in the hands of a monastery or perhaps of a college in a university.  This meant that the monastery received the rent from the land and was responsible for seeing that the parish was looked after.  So they appointed a priest whom they paid so much a year to do this for them.  He was known as a vicar, that is, a substitute.  In practice a rector and a vicar are the same, and when a new parish is formed, say, in a town, the parish priest is given the title of vicar.