Meaning and local context
In New Orleans, “parish” means A Louisiana local-government division comparable to a county. A standard Louisiana regional term that appears constantly in addresses and news.
Example in context
A local example is “They live in Jefferson Parish.” In plain English, that means “They live in the Louisiana division called Jefferson Parish.”
They live in Jefferson Parish.
They live in the Louisiana division called Jefferson Parish.
How to interpret it
The surrounding sentence is important when interpreting “parish”. Use the regional sense above when the situation matches the example instead of relying on the word or phrase in isolation.
Tone and caution
It is an official civic term, not merely a church district. Because this is informal regional language, tone and situation should guide whether you use “parish” yourself or simply recognise it when someone else uses it.