How to treat a Bishop in a social setting?

[JerrySeibert]

There are many good pieces of information here. But, is there ‘one’ way to greet a Bishop. I have never met one myself. But if I did I would feel foolish to not pay respect to the position he holds with the Church. I keep thinking I will just do what I see others do. If they kneel I will kneel. My only fear is I greet/meet him first and then I am the guinea pig so to speak.

 

[otjm]

You are correct RPP. He is a Bishop no matter where he goes and should be treat with the respect due his Office. If he doesn’t like it then perhaps he should submit his resignation.

When I was in the Marines, sometime ago, I was a Sargent and met an Army Colonel in a social setting. I recognized him and addressed him as “Sir”. He just snarled at me and told me to quit calling him “Sir”. I told him I was sorry but that would be a “breech of military etiquet” So I just did what I had to do. Didn’t see to much of him that evening.

Once a Marine, always a Marine! Semper Fi!

 

[eucharisteo]

You are correct RPP. He is a Bishop no matter where he goes and should be treat with the respect due his Office. If he doesn’t like it then perhaps he should submit his resignation.

When I was in the Marines, sometime ago, I was a Sargent and met an Army Colonel in a social setting. I recognized him and addressed him as “Sir”. He just snarled at me and told me to quit calling him “Sir”. I told him I was sorry but that would be a “breech of military etiquet” So I just did what I had to do. Didn’t see to much of him that evening.

You were a good sergeant then. Most high ranking officers would be irritated at you if you didn’t address them properly. I would have correct you or him. Army is usually very hardcore. He must have been one from one of those civilian type positions.

 

[eucharisteo]

Just like in the military:

Sir, you look good in green.
Colonel Harper, you look good in green.

Your Excellency , You look good in black.
Bishop Harper, You look good in black.

When all else fails “Hey dude” works fine.

 

[malphono]

There are many good pieces of information here. But, is there ‘one’ way to greet a Bishop. I have never met one myself. But if I did I would feel foolish to not pay respect to the position he holds with the Church. I keep thinking I will just do what I see others do. If they kneel I will kneel. My only fear is I greet/meet him first and then I am the guinea pig so to speak.

As I [post=6485828]commented[/post] early on in this thread, it is never wrong to use the traditional form.

 

[Janet1983]

You are correct RPP. He is a Bishop no matter where he goes and should be treat with the respect due his Office. If he doesn’t like it then perhaps he should submit his resignation.

When I was in the Marines, sometime ago, I was a Sargent and met an Army Colonel in a social setting. I recognized him and addressed him as “Sir”. He just snarled at me and told me to quit calling him “Sir”. I told him I was sorry but that would be a “breech of military etiquet” So I just did what I had to do. Didn’t see to much of him that evening.

Well in the army you usually also get “I work for a living” after the firm request not to called somebody “Sir”…

 

[Cathryn]

I found myself alone in the vestibule of my parish with Bishop Walsh of the Santa Rosa Diocese. I introduced myself and asked him what was the proper way to address him. He told me the the proper way would be to call him “Bishop”. He appreciated that I wanted to address him properly.

 

[joe_cool]

I once met Bishop Lennon out of the Cleveland Diocese. Not knowing what to call him at the time, I listened to others who conversed with him and called him Bishop.

I suppose it’s a matter of personal taste on the part of the Bishop.

 

[nannygirl]

According to the book “The Church Visible”, The Ceremonial Life and Protocol of the Roman Catholic Church by James Charles Noonan, Jr. the proper way to address a Bishop in conversation is ‘Your Excellency’. It says that “the British and Canadians sometimes adhere to the practice of calling archbishops and bishops - ‘Your Grace’, but this practice is no longer authorized and should be abandoned.”
“The recent practice of referring to the ordinary in conversation as “Bishop” rather than “the Bishop” is both incorrect form and improper interpretation of Roman practice.”
A Cardinal would be referred to as “Your Eminence”.
This book is awesome!

 

[MarkThompson]

“The recent practice of referring to the ordinary in conversation as “Bishop” rather than “the Bishop” is both incorrect form and improper interpretation of Roman practice.”

I’m not sure exactly how to understand this sentence. It can’t mean that we must reject “Bishop, would you like some coffee?” in favor of “The Bishop, would you like some coffee?” So, are we relegated to the highly deferential third-person “Would the Bishop like some coffee?” And what becomes of a sentence we can’t reword into the third person, like “Good morning, Bishop” – does that have to be “Good morning, Your Excellency”?

Apologies if you don’t have answers to that on hand; it just seems odd to treat “Bishop” in a different grammatical way than we would “Judge” (“Good morning, Judge”) or “Reverend” (“Say, Reverend, would you care for tea?”).

 

[nannygirl]

I’m not sure exactly how to understand this sentence. It can’t mean that we must reject “Bishop, would you like some coffee?” in favor of “The Bishop, would you like some coffee?” So, are we relegated to the highly deferential third-person “Would the Bishop like some coffee?” And what becomes of a sentence we can’t reword into the third person, like “Good morning, Bishop” – does that have to be “Good morning, Your Excellency”?

Apologies if you don’t have answers to that on hand; it just seems odd to treat “Bishop” in a different grammatical way than we would “Judge” (“Good morning, Judge”) or “Reverend” (“Say, Reverend, would you care for tea?”).

Here’s what the footnote says:
"The most common argument for referring to the ordinary as “Bishop”, without the definite article, is that ‘this usage incorporates the fullness of his authority’. As a bishop’s authority derives from apostolic succession in the fullness of Holy Orders, it would be erroneous to look to linguistics to somehow further stress that authority. One would never refer to the pope without the definite article as “Pope”. It would be correct to refer to him only as “the Pope” or “Pope John Paul” (this was written in 1996). Roman etiquette specifies the use of the article the when referring to a prelate, as does standard English when referring to proper titles (e.g. the president, the prime minister). Standard English drops the definite article only when also naming the titled person (e.g. President Bill Clinton), as is the case in the Roman etiquette (e.g. Bishop Doe, not the Bishop Doe).

It appears it would be correct to say “Good morning, Your Excellency” or at the least, “Good morning, Bishop Finn”. Not just “Bishop”.

Hope this helps…

 

[MarkThompson]

That was very helpful, Nannygirl, thanks for the response. Although it’s interesting that for the two examples given – “(e.g. the president, the prime minister)” – we have the very acceptable vocative forms “Mr. President” and “Mr. Prime Minister.”

My only experience with the whole issue is accidentally addressing a bishop as “Your Grace” once :doh2:, which caused quite a look of surprise, and successfully introducing a cardinal at a luncheon, which I still feel highly pleased about.