What Do You Call Your Priest?

[MissScripture]

I'm surprised there are so many people named "First Name" in the world! And that so many of them would become priests!

Edited June 4, 2007 by MissScripture

[homeschoolmom]

are you making fun of me?

[MissScripture]

No, I just couldn't resist commenting on that.

We call ours Fr. (First name), but part of that is because he was a member of our parish for many years before becoming a priest. Although, I think for the most part, I do call priests by their First name, but usually I know them pretty well. If I don't, I use their first and last name.

[Moneybags]

I want to be called Fr. LAST NAME

[Brigid]

[quote name='MissScripture' post='1287576' date='Jun 3 2007, 10:39 PM']I'm surprised there are so many people named "First Name" in the world! And that so many of them would become priests![/quote]


all of the priests I know are Fr. First Name, except for Archbishop Last Name. A couple of seminarian friends were just ordained (and one of them is going to be the associate pastor at our church!), so I have to get used to calling them Fr. First Name instead of just First Name

[Jaime]

[quote name='St. Benedict' post='1287613' date='Jun 3 2007, 09:12 PM']I want to be called Fr. LAST NAME[/quote]

So you want it shouted every time?


I could see that being occasionally akward

[Dismas]

Usually to a priest who is a perfect stranger, I use "Father", then usually let him set the issue.
If that doesn't succeed, I will refer to Father [surname], and will continue until corrected.

Even so, my parish priests all prefer to be called by their first names, in fact very few in my area use their last names.

I suppose that has much to do with the number of Polish last names in the area. (I have one too, so it's no crack on the Polish).

Of course, then comes in the question, do those who prefer the address "Father [surname]", feel the same way when addressing a priest religious?

Edited June 4, 2007 by Dismas

[tvu_srfan]

[quote name='hot stuff' post='1287628' date='Jun 4 2007, 12:16 AM']So you want it shouted every time?
I could see that being occasionally akward[/quote]
hahahaha!!!!!!

[bonoducchi]

Most priests I work with just tell me to use their first name and dispense with the "father" title in private. In public, its generally the first name, except when I'm in meetings at the archdiocese's main office, and then I typically use the last name for the most part.

[puellapaschalis]

In the UK: Fr. First Name (I don't ever remember a priest being introduced to me as "Fr. Surname") or Father. In private Fr. is often dropped if we know each other quite well.
In NL: Pastoor/Kapelaan/Pater (Surname), occasionally (First Name) if I knew him before his Ordination. I have been known to address my parish priest here as "Vader Achternaam" rather than "Pastoor Achternaam" as most people do, but that's a translational kick-back and generally accepted as a PP-quirk. Generally I will use the polite pronoun when speaking to a priest, even though he might only be a few years older than me or we had known each other before his Ordination and had been using the informal form then.
In any other country which isn't generally English-speaking: Pater.

PP

[aalpha1989]

refuse to speculate?????

[Katholikos]

What!? No Protestants here telling y'all to call no man father?

[jiyoung]

I say mix and match...I usually go by how the priest is introduced to me. At my old church, we had both Fr. Sean [Brazell] and Fr. [John] Hogan. The priests at my church now usually go by their first names.

[IcePrincessKRS]

Mix and match. I grew up with Fr. Jim, Fr. Del (short for Del Conte), so on and so forth.... it was pretty much how they were introduced to me... to their faces I usually just call them "Father", though.

[Archaeology cat]

It would have been way too confusing at my old parish to call 2 of the priests Fr. Cody (last name) b/c they were brothers. Some did it anyway, so I'd always have to ask [i]which[/i] Fr. Cody they meant. But the priests there seemed to generally prefer first name anyway. Since there's only one priest at my current parish, I usually just say "Father" and leave it at that.