Parish

A parish is a local religious or governmental unit within a broader organizational structure, as in:

• a parish of the Catholic Church is an individual church with its own pastor, operating within a larger diocese.
• in the United Kingdom, a parish is a division of the Church of England (or Wales or Scotland) with its own parish priest (a vicar or rector) and one or more churches (in other countries the term is used for other Anglican bodies, such as the Episcopalian Church in the United States)
• a parish in Louisiana, a former French colony which has strong Catholic roots (especially in its southern regions), is equivalent to a county in other states.