National parishes are Catholic parishes that serve particular ethnic communities. They are distinguished from the other type of parish, the territorial parish, which serve a geographic area of a diocese. National parishes (sometimes called National churches) have existed in Rome for centuries to meet the spiritual needs of the masses of pilgrims. But they also have existed in North America since the late eighteenth century, when they were established to meet the needs of immigrants not speaking the language of the majority population. The first national parish in north America was Holy Trinity German National Parish founded in 1788 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.