How do you prefer to address a priest? Father John? or Father Smith? or simply John?

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Assuming that a priest does not care (or hasn’t mentioned) how he likes to be addressed, how do YOU prefer to address a priest?

By his first name only, as in “John”

Father firstname, as in “Father John”

Father lastname, as in “Father Smith”

Please state the reason for your preference.
 
Either Father Firstname or Father Lastname, depending on his preference. But not “John,” unless I’ve known him since long before he was ordained, and then not always.

Betsy
 
Father Lastname unless he wants to be called Father Firstname. I couldn’t imagine calling him just his name, it doesn’t seem right.
 
I have religious order priests and they’re all Fr. Firstname.
 
I’ve always called priests Father Last Name, just as most protestant ministers are generally called Pastor Last Name. Of course, then they should call their parishioners Mr. or Mrs. Last Name, especially if parishioners are older.
 
Father First Name – unless he prefers Father Last Name. It depends. I suppose if he was a relative like a brother, cousin or uncle, I might call him by his first name only or uncle so and so… but perhaps in public Father First Name.
 
I’ve always used “Father LastName” myself, unless asked by the priest to address him differently. I don’t think I could ever call a priest just “FirstName”. Our parish did have a priest with the last name “Darling”… Needless to say, he requested the “Father FirstName” formula. 😉
 
I prefer to use a priest’s first or Christian name, calling him either Father or Father FirstName. Out of respect for their wishes, I will call priests by their family names if they request it or are exclusively known by them, but I find it awkward.

When they were ordained, they shed their ties to earthly families and belongings and dedicated themselves wholly to God. They became part of each of our families. I wouldn’t call my dad Mr. LastName. Just as we call the pontiff Papa (pope in English), I call my priest by a familiar and loving title which reflects that spiritual fatherhood and tie to my own family and the family of God. His paternal family name doesn’t do that nearly as well as his Christian name does. His first name is what he was baptized and/or ordained as, and the name God knows him by as a Christian. If God wanted first names, I can take it, too.
 
I had to smile a little at this one. Looking at the way trendy names are going I am thinking last names might work better for me.
 
Generally, I prefer “Fr. Lastname”. But that is my bias of having grown up around old school diocesan priests for whom that is more the norm.

If I’m just thinking of a priest as a “guy” (which I have a tendency to do, because of my seminary background), then I’m quite comfortable with just firstname and no Father or Lastname at all.

Of course, there was this one Church bulletin which always printed in the summer that the celebrant for a certain Mass next week would be, “Fr. Visiting Priest.” I thought it was so nice of the Priest family to name their son after that wonderful priest from elsewhere than their own parish who inspired them one Sunday. Yet, now the poor kid (all grown up) has to live with this the rest of his life. I mean, it is great that it helped inspire him towards a vocation. But he had to go into religious life as an itinerant preacher. For he just doesn’t fit anywhere and will always be Fr. Visiting Priest. Were he ever to be appointed as pastor, he couldn’t even feel at home in his own place of estabishment because of the comntradictory life which his name forces him to lead. Would not it have been better for his mom and dad to name him Ray or something simple like that?
 
CatholicCid said:
“Father Rainbow” just popped into my head :rotfl:
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:rotfl:I would think he would be baptized or ordained with a saint’s name to prevent Father Rainbow. He *could *argue the Christian connection to Rainbow. It’s in the Bible, which is better than Apollo or Vishnu. I’d definitely expect a saint’s name to be taken at baptism or ordination for them.
 
Every priest I know of goes by Fr. First Name.

My mom still says Fr. Last Name.

If it’s a priest I don’t know, I usually wait til he says something or I overhear someone else addressing him.

I never use just the first name.

–Barbara
 
We had nicknames for all the priests at my parish when I was a kid, many of which involved just first names. Others were kinda combinations. Such as “Mister Priest.” Now, mostly, these were just things that the kids threw around amoing ourselves, without ever saying to a priest’s face. But they were fun and it helped humanize the priests for us. One of the nicknames was even just the priest’s name without any “Fr.” in front of it. We considered that a great compliment as it indicated that he was beloved on a very personal and real level for the man that he was, aside from position or priestly prestige. On the other hand, I don’t recall whether the elderly retired pastor had any nickname at all. He may have, in which case it would have probably been his first name alone. But if he didn’t, this was, likewise, an acknowledgement of respect for his dignity as an esteemed elder pastor who continued on in service and in presence as best he could despite his limitations of health.
 
Only ever called a priest by his first name twice in all my 62 years. It has always been Father first name. We did have a priest in our parish who would tease mercilessly if one called him Father first or last name. So I called him by his first name without Father prefixing it rather than be teased. The new part time priest in our parish gave a lovely talk about himself on his arrival and explaining why he liked and preferred to be called by his first name. Most of the time I slip up and call him Father first name - at least he doesn’t tease about it.

Blessings and Peace…Barb:)
 
as the product of 12 yrs in parochial schools I am simply unable to address a priest as “John” or a sister as “Mary” even when invited to do so, or in conversation with other religious and clergy who address their confreres by first name. Even down here where the custom is to address priests as “Fr. John” I always say Fr. Smith when I meet a priest, and use the first name only when invited.
 
We had a seminarian intern last year whom we grew to love. He asked to be called by just his first name, since Mr. Ed wasn’t going to work for obvious reasons. 😃 So “Edward” he became. He was ordained this past summer, but it is still difficult to refer to him as “Fr. Ed” rather than just plain “Edward”. Working on it, though.
 
I always address them by Father Firstname. If a priest insists to be called by his last name then I think he should extend the courtesy and call me by my last name as well if he wants to be that formal. I call our bishop by his last name. The priests I work with, and a few others who are friends, I call by their first name but not in public.
 
acadian said:
We had a seminarian intern last year whom we grew to love. He asked to be called by just his first name, since Mr. Ed wasn’t going to work for obvious reasons. 😃 So “Edward” he became. He was ordained this past summer, but it is still difficult to refer to him as “Fr. Ed” rather than just plain “Edward”. Working on it, though.
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I know… We were friendly with a seminarian who we called Mark, but he was ordained last year too, so it has been hard calling him “Fr. ----”. Another young man I knew I called by his first name until he became a Brother, so I called him, “Br. ----”. Then he became a priest and I was able to transition myself to calling him “Fr. ----”. He wanted to be called by his first name since we knew each other.

In general, unless they insist on being called by Fr. FirstName, I will always refer to them by their last name.
 
I just usually call him “Father” with no first or last name!

In Peace,
DS
 
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