How can you tell if they're a Priest?

[Kevin_Walker]

Regarding who gets to wear black with a Roman Collar, I saw a short, very fat woman with a leg brace and crutch dressed in black with a Roman Collar, exactly as a Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest, crossing through Boston Common.

Someone mentioned that Protestant ministers can dress in a black suit with a Roman Collar.

So if that is true, how does one tell a Catholic Priest at a distance anymore?

 

[Bud_Stewart]

Call them Father and see if they get upset. If they do, they aren’t Priests.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Bud Stewart:

Call them Father and see if they get upset. If they do, they aren’t Priests.

That not very funny because that is what happened to me on an Amtrak train from Chicago to Boston. When I saw an elderly gentleman wearing black and a Roman Collar sitting quietly in his chair in an Amtrak train from Chicago to Boston, I naturally paid my respects as to my Catholic upbringing and said “Good afternoon Father, how are you and is there anything I can do for you?”

He straightened me out that he wasn’t a Priest but a Protestant minister and sounded very indignant as he explained. I was very embarrassed and a bit angry. What was a Minister doing dressed like a Jesuit I thought? And I never received an answer. Hopefully I’ll get the straight info on this thread? Thanks!

 

[Bud_Stewart]

Hi Kevin. There is no definitive answer. Anyone can dress as they wish. My “joke” was intended to point out the irony that while some members of protestant churches want to dress as if they were Catholic Priests, they do indeed get very upset when you confuse them as such. I have mistaken protestant ministers for Priests on a couple of occasions now so I do understand what you are saying.

God Bless.

 

[Scott_Lafrance]

Does anyone know of a listing of the denominations that wear a collar? I know there are the Catholics and Orthodox, I believe that the Anglicans and Episcopalians do as well, although their collar is different. I think some Methodists wear a collar as well.

 

[geezerbob]

Kevin Walker:

Regarding who gets to wear black with a Roman Collar, I saw a short, very fat woman with a leg brace and crutch dressed in black with a Roman Collar, exactly as a Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest, crossing through Boston Common.

Someone mentioned that Protestant ministers can dress in a black suit with a Roman Collar.

So if that is true, how does one tell a Catholic Priest at a distance anymore?

If it had boobs, it definitely wasn’t a Catholic priest.

I know at least one Lutheran who wears a roman collar.

 

[tom.wineman]

Kevin Walker:

Regarding who gets to wear black with a Roman Collar, I saw a short, very fat woman with a leg brace and crutch dressed in black with a Roman Collar, exactly as a Roman Catholic Jesuit Priest, crossing through Boston Common.

Someone mentioned that Protestant ministers can dress in a black suit with a Roman Collar.

So if that is true, how does one tell a Catholic Priest at a distance anymore?

Well. its been my experience that very few
short fat women are priest

---

When in doubt just walk up and ask them.

 

[Kevin_Walker]

Scott_Lafrance:

Does anyone know of a listing of the denominations that wear a collar? I know there are the Catholics and Orthodox, I believe that the Anglicans and Episcopalians do as well, although their collar is different. I think some Methodists wear a collar as well.

The Boston Common is in a unique position of being ringed by at least three (maybe four) Churches: The Roman Catholic Paulist Center; a major Episcopal Cathedral; the King’s Chapel (protestant); the Park Street Church (Congregationalist?) and a block away a Baptist Church and the Franciscan St. Anthony’s Shrine. There are several more protestant denominational Churches, but they are at least two blocks away from the Common.

So on any given day you will see all types of clergy cutting through the Boston Common on their way to work. So the Episcopal broad white collar on a purple shirt is distinctive and obvious. I see a lot of women wearing the Episcopal collar of a ordained minister, so there is no ambiguity. The ambiguity lies in the clergy who wear a black suit with a Roman Collar without being a (Roman) Catholic.

Again, as a fairly conservative (Roman) Catholic, how am I now supposed to tell a Jesuit from a Baptist minister if both wear the same uniform?