GuidedResearch:Ireland Catholic Parish
Finding the 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 to learn how to find the parish.
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
- Compare Catholic Parish Maps (map of Catholic parishes by county) and Civil Parish Maps (map of civil parishes by county)
Many Catholic parishes have multiple names. Go to National Library of Ireland and enter the name of the parish or click on the parish on the map to learn its variant names.
If only the county is known:
Learn all of the Catholic parishes in the county to help narrow down results. See Catholic Parish Maps.