ecclesiastical division

An ecclesiastical division is a division whose areas are drawn by a religious body to assign residents to a congregation. The body defines and changes them, and the areas answer to it rather than to any civil authority.

Their boundaries follow the reach of a congregation and are redrawn when congregations merge or are founded. Divisions of different denominations cover the same ground independently of one another, so several may overlap.

Where such an area is old, its name often survives as the everyday name of a quarter, and the civil boundary that later took the name may differ. The area itself remains ecclesiastical as long as a religious body maintains it.