Addressing Female Episcopalian Priests

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Sorry, but how should I address you?

Most will realize you aren’t in their church and thus don’t know.
 
Annie said:
Is it common to call Lutheran priests pastor? Do they differentiate between regular priests and pastors as we do?
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In the United States, Lutherans often go by “pastor” instead of “priest”
 
NO, France.

It IS not thé same everywhere just thé tendancy i observe near me.
Father IS used too. Depend.

I Was raided diferently.

My Pastor want me called him by IS name i refused.

Éven bishops are often named father by their lay collabortors on papers instead of mon signor.
But father and mgr used on medias and official documents
 
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DignumEtJustum said:
Ms. or Mrs. would be appropriate. I would not acknowledge illegitimate holy orders.
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Oh, so you think it would be okay if someone who is non-Catholic addressed the pope as Mr. Bergoglio.
I wouldn’t. I would consider it offensively rude and disrespectful.
In Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger’s book, “Pilgrim Fellowship of Faith”, he chronicles his letters to and from Lutheran Bishop Johannes Hanselmann. He refers to him as Bishop, out of respect.
I believe the Cardinal’s actions are more in line with Christian charity and love.
 
The local Episcopalian priest here is called Mother Elizabeth by her congregation.
 
Strangely enough, as I drifted off into a medicinally induced haze yesterday the thought popped all unbidden into my mind: “What happened to the Parson”?

In England, at least, that was the very common form of address and title for the priest in charge of the parish, no matter what his official job description, throughout the 18th and 19th Centuries. The Revd Patrick Brontë, for instance, (he of the three excitable daughters) was Parson of Haworth, even though he was officially Perpetual Curate.

Why the term faded away I don’t know, but it is a warm, honest, flexible word that fits the bill nicely. Perhaps it should be revived. Is it used in the States?
 
Indeed. I live In Cornwall and know some older Cornish people who still refer to the Vicar/Rector/P in C as the ‘Passon’ which is the Cornish dialect for Parson. My mother who is in her mid 80’s refers to our female Rector as the the ‘Passon’.
 
I have never seen it in an Anglican context here, Anglicans, as you may have heard, are notoriously idiosyncratic, and, for all I know, there may be some parsons lurking on this side.

Title for a classic mystery: What Happened to the Parson?"
 
Would parson be a term used to address someone in person? Would one say, Hello, Parson Smith, lovely day today?
 
Annie said:
Would parson be a term used to address someone in person? Would one say, Hello, Parson Smith, lovely day today?
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I suspect one could. The parson is coming tomorrow. Parson Smith is coming tomorrow. Good morning, parson! Good morning, Parson Smith! We’ll pretend that he is Parson Brown.

They all sound OK to me, but I may be wrong — the usage is no longer common, and there may be a matter of register that I’m not aware of.

Perhaps @Symphorian could help out, dwelling among the parsons of beautiful Cornwall.
 
TexasLoneStar said:
If you want to respect her just call her “Pastor [name]”
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If you want to respect her, call her what she prefers. As stated before, that could be Mother, Vicar, Pastor, Ms, Dr, Canon, Bishop, Dean, or Parson (great idea!). She is an Episcopal priest, regardless of your opinion.
 
I used to work for the Church of England and dealt with Anglican clergy around the world every day. I can confirm that “Reverend” is not used as a title. Rather, “the Reverend” is the correct style for Anglican deacons and priests who are not entitled to the higher styles of “the Venerable” (archdeacons) or “the Very Reverend” (deans and formerly provosts). Compare it with “the Right Honourable”, the style used by British privy counsellors: one would not address or refer to the British prime minister as “Right Honourable May”.

Unless entitled to a higher form of address, it is always acceptable to address a member of the Anglican clergy as Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms. Some clergy use an academic title (Dr/Professor). Those with senior appointments are addressed accordingly: Canon/Prebendary Smith, Madam Archdeacon, Mr Dean, etc. Male Anglo-Catholic clergy often use “Father” with either their Christian name or surname. Some female Anglo-Catholic clergy use “Mother” in the same way. I understand that this is more widespread in the USA and Canada. I know one female Anglo-Catholic priest who is happy to be addressed as “Father”, but this is in general not recommended.

As for validity of orders, using a correct form of address is simply a matter of courtesy and accuracy. For example, all former moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland are styled “the Very Reverend”. This does not imply recognition of Presbyterian orders in a theological sense; it simply recognises a venerable Scottish custom. When I worked for the Church of England I once had to speak to a former Church of England priest who had become archbishop of a small group of former Anglicans. As a matter of courtesy and accuracy I addressed him as “Archbishop” and styled him “the Most Reverend”. After all, within his own small community he is an archbishop.
 
ComplineSanFran said:
She is an Episcopal priest, regardless of your opinion.
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No, the teaching of the Catholic Church is that females can not receive Holy Orders - so a term "bishop: would be incorrect. By calling her Bishop or “Mother” you would be testifying against the teachings of the Apostolic Church and in a way invalidating your own faith. I care more about what the Church thinks than what some one wants to be called. If I want to be called “Father” and am not a priest would you oblige? I sure hope not.
 
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DignumEtJustum said:
Ms. or Mrs. would be appropriate. I would not acknowledge illegitimate holy orders.
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You are correct insofar as all Anglican clergy (except those who have received episcopal consecration) can correctly be addressed Mr, Mrs, Miss, or Ms (unless entitled an academic of other title). But I do not see what point you are making about acknowledging illegitimate holy orders. If I address an Anglican priest as “Father” (as I have done on occasions) I am not acknowledging that he is a Catholic priest, I am simply acknowledging that he is a priest within his own denomination. Indeed, he presumably knows perfectly well that I do not recognise him as a validly ordained priest as I would recognise a priest of the Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, or one of the Oriental or Eastern Orthodox Churches. I would also address an Anglican bishop as “Bishop”. I don’t believe that he is a bishop in the sense in which the Catholic Church means that term, but it would be foolish to assert that he is not a bishop for his own denomination (and in the case of the Church of England a bishop as defined by the law of the land). I would use the correct form of address for any religious leader, whether that person is a Protestant minister, rabbi, or whatever.
 
perhaps the most complex post in CAF history; and that takes in a lot of territory…
 
TexasLoneStar said:
No, the teaching of the Catholic Church is that females can not receive Holy Orders - so a term "bishop: would be incorrect. By calling her Bishop or “Mother” you would be testifying against the teachings of the Apostolic Church and in a way invalidating your own faith. I care more about what the Church thinks than what some one wants to be called. If I want to be called “Father” and am not a priest would you oblige? I sure hope not.
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You might want to read previous postings about all this. If your Pope can address the Archbishop of the Church of Sweden by her proper title (and honor that role), it would be good to follow his lead, yes?
 
the “church of sweden” is not carholic

https://www.thelocal.se/20140615/swedens-first-female-archbishop-sworn-in

wiki:

Church of Sweden
Svenska kyrkan
Uppsala cathedral with Dekanhuset.jpg
Uppsala Cathedral, Uppsala, Sweden
Classification Protestant
Orientation Lutheran
Polity Episcopal
Primate Archbishop Antje Jackelén
Associations Lutheran World Federation,
World Council of Churches,
Conference of European Churches,
Porvoo Communion
Region Sweden
Headquarters Uppsala, Sweden
Founder King Gustav I of Sweden
Origin 1536/1593
Separated from Roman Catholic Church in Sweden
Separations Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland (1809)
Congregations 3 379 churches (2016)[1]
Members 5,993,368 baptized members (59.3%) (2017)[1]
Official website English (engelska) - Svenska kyrkan
The Church of Sweden (Swedish: Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with 6.0 million baptised members at yearend 2017 it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden.

It is the largest Lutheran denomination in Europe and the third-largest in the world after the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania.[2] A member of the Porvoo Communion, the Church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity.
 
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