What do Anglicans call their ministers?

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In a story I’m writing, I have a small town in Great Britain that has an Anglican Church. It’s not a huge feature of the story, but I still like to get everything accurate.

I called the Church “St. George’s”, because I thought you Anglican churches are named after the saints like us and St. George is Patron of England, if I remember correctly.

The main character runs into the minister of the church. What would he say, “Hello Vicar ____” “Hello Father ____” ? How would he address him?

What is the service called? How would the minister say "I haven’t seen you at _____ (Services, liturgy, Mass?)

The main character is going to find out some things about his (deceased) parents from what we would call Parish records. Anglicans call these Parish records too, yes?

Would it be ok to have the minister in a cassock, or is that completely out from left field?

Thank you all! Like I said, it’s not a huge deal, but it will play out an important streak in the story, and I like having all my background stuff correct anyway. Thanks again!

~Rawb
 
Rawb said:
In a story I’m writing, I have a small town in Great Britain that has an Anglican Church. It’s not a huge feature of the story, but I still like to get everything accurate.

I called the Church “St. George’s”, because I thought you Anglican churches are named after the saints like us and St. George is Patron of England, if I remember correctly.

The main character runs into the minister of the church. What would he say, “Hello Vicar ____” “Hello Father ____” ? How would he address him?

What is the service called? How would the minister say "I haven’t seen you at _____ (Services, liturgy, Mass?)

The main character is going to find out some things about his (deceased) parents from what we would call Parish records. Anglicans call these Parish records too, yes?

Would it be ok to have the minister in a cassock, or is that completely out from left field?

Thank you all! Like I said, it’s not a huge deal, but it will play out an important streak in the story, and I like having all my background stuff correct anyway. Thanks again!

~Rawb
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We Anglicans approach worship and the such very similar to the way you do. Our priests are addressed as Father and in the cases of women who are ordained, it is Mother. My priest is Fr. Andrew. They wear the same sort of attire as Catholic priests during worship and also the collar as street wear. We have much the same in the way of vestments and of course follow the same Gregorian Kalender. Sunday worship is referred to as Service or even The Mass but most generally is called Holy Eucharist.
 
SIA said:
We Anglicans approach…
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Wow I did not see that coming. You are Anglican? After reading some of your posts I thought you to be more of the fundamentalist evangelical variety. Is it bad that I thought that? :confused:

Interesting that Anglicans call their ministers father? I guess I knew that, or rather I knew Episcopalians called their ministers father. So SIA how do you answer the charge that we are not to call anyone father?

God bless
 
The CofE has different titles for clergy based on their assignments (Vicar, etc). You could probably wiki or check the CofE website to see the differences. Perhaps one of our resident Brits can shed more light?
 
Roman_Catholic said:
Wow I did not see that coming. You are Anglican? After reading some of your posts I thought you to be more of the fundamentalist evangelical variety. Is it bad that I thought that? :confused:

Interesting that Anglicans call their ministers father? I guess I knew that, or rather I knew Episcopalians called their ministers father. So SIA how do you answer the charge that we are not to call anyone father?

God bless
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Not to put words in SIA’s mouth, but we answer it just as you RCs do.

And, partially, it would depend on when, historically, you set the story, as to what the "minister " might be called. If it’s contemporary times, Father is fine, though not all Anglican priests use the title. Nor do all refer to the service as the Mass, though mine certainly does (it’s that "different sort of Anglicans thing).

GKC

Anglicanus Catholicus
 
SIA said:
We Anglicans approach worship and the such very similar to the way you do. Our priests are addressed as Father and in the cases of women who are ordained, it is Mother. My priest is Fr. Andrew. They wear the same sort of attire as Catholic priests during worship and also the collar as street wear. We have much the same in the way of vestments and of course follow the same Gregorian Kalender. Sunday worship is referred to as Service or even The Mass but most generally is called Holy Eucharist.
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To follow a long with what SIA said about the Holy Eucharist, often times I have read Holy Eucharist - Rite II at 10:30am or Holy Eucharist Rite I at 8am showing the two liturgy styles offered at the Church.

God Bless!
 
Oh, you may want to shoot an email over to Fr Dwight Longenecker. He was a Priest in the CofE for 25 years and is now Catholic Priest in South Carolina.

his blog is gkupsidedown.blogspot.com

I’ll bet he can answer pretty much any question you’ve got!
 
Officially, it’s The Rev. Mr. (or Ms.) [don’t forget the “the”] – Then ask the person how he or she prefers to be addressed. Some use “Father”; some use Mr. Nowadays, women may or may not wish to be called “Mother.”

He or she might say, “I haven’t seen you in Church.” Depending on the altitude of the churchmanship, it can be “Mass,” “Holy Eucharist,” “Holy Communion” or “Morning Prayer.” You will have to ASK.

But since it is for a fictional story, you can have it however you like. Father Throgmorton is free to wear his cassock & biretta (and more likely to do so than his Roman counterpart) or his plus-fours with a tweed cap.
 
chris_molter said:
Oh, you may want to shoot an email over to Fr Dwight Longenecker. He was a Priest in the CofE for 25 years and is now Catholic Priest in South Carolina.

his blog is gkupsidedown.blogspot.com

I’ll bet he can answer pretty much any question you’ve got!
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Curiously, I was in a RC book shop yesterday, and read his ordination story on a bulletin board there.

GKC
 
Doesn’t the old joke go something like “By its own definition, nobody from the pope to Mao Tse Tung can say with absolute confidence that he is NOT Anglican…” 😃

I suspect the same applies to what the minister and service are called: depends on who you are talking to!
 
manualman said:
Doesn’t the old joke go something like “By its own definition, nobody from the pope to Mao Tse Tung can say with absolute confidence that he is NOT Anglican…” 😃

I suspect the same applies to what the minister and service are called: depends on who you are talking to!
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It’s that kind of humor that I miss most about being Anglican. We made this stuff up about ourselves. Like the lightbulb joke:

How many Anglicans does it take to change a lightbulb?

Five. One to change the lightbulb. One to mix the drinks. And three to stand around talking about how much better the old lightbulb used to be! 😛
 
Fear not. There’s a pretty funny thread full of catholic jokes around here somewhere…
 
manualman said:
Doesn’t the old joke go something like “By its own definition, nobody from the pope to Mao Tse Tung can say with absolute confidence that he is NOT Anglican…” 😃

I suspect the same applies to what the minister and service are called: depends on who you are talking to!
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Attributed to William F. Buckley, Jr.

GKC
 
mercygate said:
Officially, it’s The Rev. Mr. (or Ms.) [don’t forget the “the”] – Then ask the person how he or she prefers to be addressed. Some use “Father”; some use Mr. Nowadays, women may or may not wish to be called “Mother.”

He or she might say, “I haven’t seen you in Church.” Depending on the altitude of the churchmanship, it can be “Mass,” “Holy Eucharist,” “Holy Communion” or “Morning Prayer.” You will have to ASK.

But since it is for a fictional story, you can have it however you like. Father Throgmorton is free to wear his cassock & biretta (and more likely to do so than his Roman counterpart) or his plus-fours with a tweed cap.
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I honestly can’t recall any of our priest going by “Mr. Nowadays” or “Mr. Smith”. When I am with my children or working on a church committee, I almost always call our priest “Father Rich” or “Mother Ann”. When I introduce them to someone, I normally say “This is our priest, Rich” or “This is our pastor, Rich”. If I am with them socially, I do normally call them Rich and Ann. I hope this helps.

Happy Advent!
 
emeraldcoast said:
I honestly can’t recall any of our priest going by “Mr. Nowadays” or “Mr. Smith”. When I am with my children or working on a church committee, I almost always call our priest “Father Rich” or “Mother Ann”. When I introduce them to someone, I normally say “This is our priest, Rich” or “This is our pastor, Rich”. If I am with them socially, I do normally call them Rich and Ann. I hope this helps.

Happy Advent!
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To get me to call a “priestess,” “mother” would require my taking an entire bottle of Vicodin, total delirium, and a major head injury all in one.
 
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