GuidedResearch:Ireland Catholic Parish

Finding the Catholic Parish

Ireland Guided Research

Catholic Records

Catholic Parish

The Roman Catholic Church divided Ireland into Catholic parishes that did not usually align with Ireland's civil parishes. Searching by civil parish will not locate the Catholic record. In order to find a record or narrow results, search by the Catholic parish.

Knowing the civil parish or townland is necessary to find the Catholic parish. Go to Finding the Ireland County or Parish of Origin.

If civil parish or townland is known:

• Catholic Parishes and Civil Parish Links - enter the name of the civil parish and it will list which Catholic parish it is in
  • If only the townland is known, enter the townland into The IreAtlas Townland DataBase and it will list the civil parish
• Catholic Parish Maps - map of Catholic parishes by county in Ireland
  • Compare with Civil Parish Maps - map of civil parishes by county in Ireland

Many Catholic parishes have multiple names. Go to Catholic Parish Registers at the NLI and enter the name of the parish to learn all of the names it may be known as.

If only the county is known:

Learn all of the Catholic parishes in the county of origin to help narrow down results. See Catholic Parish Maps.