Hi,

My roomate, a nondenominational Protestant, wishes to be polite to a priest but refrain from calling him "Father so-and-so" due to personal conviction. Is there another polite and respectful way for him to address a Priest, because he does not want be disrespectful in any way. Thanks

-- Andrew Staupe (stau0085@umn.edu), April 21, 2004

Answers

Sir.

-- jacob (lurker@here.com), April 21, 2004.

Reverend. Protestants also use this term so there should be no problem.

-- Paul (PaulCyp@cox.net), April 21, 2004.

He could also asks if the priest minds being called by his Christian name. It's becoming more common now for priests to ask to be called by name rather than Father. If it's not objectionable to the priest then he shouldn't have a problem calling him his given name.

-- Sara (sara_catholic_forum@yahoo.co.uk), April 22, 2004.

In the Episcopal Church the person is called both "priest" and "pastor." Does the Catholic Church also do this? The meaning of "pastor" is simply Shepherd, and Protestants are obviously fine with using the word pastor, so why not see if you friend can call the priest "Pastor ___"?

God bless,

-- Emily (jesusfollower7@yahoo.com), April 22, 2004.