In Catholic canon law, a particular Church is an ecclesial community headed by a bishop or someone recognised as the equivalent of a bishop. There are two kinds of particular Churches: 1. * Local particular Churches. A diocese is the most familiar form of such local particular Churches, but there are other forms, including that of a territorial abbacy, an apostolic vicariate and an apostolic prefecture: "Particular Churches, in which and from which the one and only Catholic Church exists, are principally dioceses. Unless the contrary is clear, the following are equivalent to a diocese: a territorial prelature, a territorial abbacy, a vicariate apostolic, a prefecture apostolic and a permanently established apostolic administration." 2. * Autonomous ("sui iuris") particular Churches