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Parish communities in Haut-Rhin (France)

Presnetation of Parish Communities

Parish Communities (communautés de paroisses) have been established by the Roman Catholic church in Alsace-Moselle due to the decline of the number of priests, no longer sufficient to allocate a priest to each and every parish.
The Statutes of the Parish Communities (text) defines them as "pastoral grouping made of several Parishes, which are encouraged to elaborate and implement a common pastoral, while keeping their proper identity" (Article 1.1.1.1); "the [single] priest exercizes the pastoral office of the Parish Community under the authority of the bishop" (Article 1.1.1.3). The Parish is further defined as "the Catholic community of a village or a borough [...]. It is part of a Parish Community handled over to a pastoral management team, placed under the responsibility of its [single] priest." (Article 2.1.1).

Parish Community of Saint Martin sur Ill et Largue

Flag of the Parish Community of Saint Martin sur Ill et Largue - Image by Ivan Sache, 18 May 2014

The Parish Community of Saint Martin sur Ill et Largue (website), located in southern Alsace, is part of the Deanery of Altkirch, one of the 51 deaneries forming the Diocese of Strasbourg. The Community groups the eight parishes of Heldwiller, Illfurth, Luemschwiller, Saint-Bernard, Spechbach-le-Bas, Spechbach-le-Haut, Tagolsheim and Walheim. It is named for its patron saint, St. Martin, and for the two rivers, Ill and Largue, watering its territory.

The flag of the Parish Community of Saint Martin sur Ill et Largue (community website) was unveiled on 13 November 2005 during the ceremony of inauguration of the community. Since then, it has been displayed in the cloister of the presbytery of Illfurth.
The flag is vertically divided yellow-white, on the model of the flag of the Holy See.

The shield in the middle of the flag comes from the logo of the Intermunicipal Authority of the Illfurth Sector (Communauté de Communes du Secteur d'Illfurth; website), recalling that 8 out of the 10 municipalities of the Illfurth Sector form the Parish Community. The use of the logo was authorized by the Intermunicipal Authority upon request of the Pastoral Council of the Parish Community. The logo has been "modernized" since the design of the flag, while keeping the ten coloured dots representing the ten municipalities and the two arrows representing intermunicipal connections.
The red cross symbolizes Christian faith into dead and resurrected Jesus Christ. It is placed in the heart of the flag, that is, in the heart of the Church, in the heart of our villages, and in the heart of our lives.
The eight doves - five blue and two green - symbolize the eight parishes forming the community. The two different colours recall that the community was formed as the merger of two former parish sectors:
- Carrefour des Rivières (Rivers' Crossing): Heidwiller, Illfurth, Luemschwiller, Tagolsheim and Walheim;
- Terres du Canal (Canal Lands): Saint-Bernard, Spechbach-le-Bas and Spechbach-le-Haut.
Although similar, the doves are indeed different in the details, highlighting the diversity of the parishes and the resources of the community. They all fly in the same, heavenwards direction, highlighting our unity and the strength of the momentum that boosts us towards progress.

Ivan Sache, 18 May 2014