What do we address deacons as?

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Where the Latin Church is concerned, permanent deacons are addressed as “Reverend Deacon Smith”. Transitional deacons (those who will eventually be ordained priests) are traditionally addressed as “Reverend Mister Smith”. 🙂
 
Filii_Dei said:
Where the Latin Church is concerned, permanent deacons are addressed as “Reverend Deacon Smith”. Transitional deacons (those who will eventually be ordained priests) are traditionally addressed as “Reverend Mister Smith”. 🙂
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Oh, dear. We call ours “Deacon firstname.”
 
Filii_Dei said:
Where the Latin Church is concerned, permanent deacons are addressed as “Reverend Deacon Smith”. Transitional deacons (those who will eventually be ordained priests) are traditionally addressed as “Reverend Mister Smith”. 🙂
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I believe that Reverend Mister is proper for all deacons but am open to correction.

-Tim-
 
In the Eastern Catholic Churches you refer to deacons as Father Deacon
 
Oh, my. I have directly referred to the one I am closer to as ‘firstname’ only.
Oopsy.

But then, he didn’t correct me (I was in RCIA) and I was a little peeved with him.
Since being corrected, I do my best to say Deacon “Bob.” A little difficult to remember, but I have apologised with every oopsy.
 
Some deacons prefer Deacon First Name, while others are fine with Deacon or Deacon Last Name. Officially in the US, all deacons, both transitional and permanent, were titled as The Rev. Mr. ________, but in the last few years, the bishops’ conference has preferred that for only transitional deacons, and Deacon __________ for permanent deacons. It has not caught on everywhere, but that is the trend favored by the bishops now.
 
agnes_therese said:
Oh, dear. We call ours “Deacon firstname.”
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The previous poster was giving the correct form of a written salutation.

Yes, it is common to call a deacon “Deacon Jim” and a priest “Father Joe” or whatever they have asked to be called when speaking to them.

While we typically call a priest “Father X”, when addressing him in writing it is “Reverend Joseph Jones” not “Father Joseph Jones” (or Reverend Monsignor if he is a Monsignor). For deacons, it is Reverend Mr. A bishop is Most Rerverend John Jones, Bishop of X.
 
agnes_therese said:
Oh, dear. We call ours “Deacon firstname.”
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I intended to also point out that verbally addressing a deacon as “Deacon Smith” or “Deacon Billy” may be acceptable in a relaxed and informal setting, but I omitted it for the sake of brevity. Now that you brought this up, I guess I should have left it in. 🙂
TimothyH said:
I believe that Reverend Mister is proper for all deacons but am open to correction.

-Tim-
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You might be right there. The permanent diaconate is a relatively recent revival, so the customs for addressing permanent deacons aren’t quite set in stone as compared to those for transitional deacons which are much more well-established. In fact, some question whether there should be any distinction in how we address the two groups in the first place, based on the principle that they are both equally deacons after all, and that we should be addressing them based upon their current canonical office and not according to an office which they have not yet attained. 🙂
 
1ke said:
The previous poster was giving the correct form of a written salutation.

Yes, it is common to call a deacon “Deacon Jim” and a priest “Father Joe” or whatever they have asked to be called when speaking to them.

While we typically call a priest “Father X”, when addressing him in writing it is “Reverend Joseph Jones” not “Father Joseph Jones” (or Reverend Monsignor if he is a Monsignor). For deacons, it is Reverend Mr. A bishop is Most Rerverend John Jones, Bishop of X.
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This is true of secular priests. Conventions will vary for religious priests.
 
Shaolen said:
I know we call priests father, but what do we call deacons?
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It varies by which of the Churches in Communion with Rome they are ordained within.

The Roman is Deacon N., or when writing, Reverend Mister N.N.

The Byzantine Rite Churches (Ruthenian, Ukrainian, Melkite, Romanian, Serbian, etc), Deacons are addressed as Father N. or Father Deacon, Father Deacon N., or informally, Deacon N… Often abbreviated in writing to Fr. Dcn.
Monastic deacons of the Byzantine Rite are Father Hierodeacon N.

The Syriac churches have their own mode.

And religious deacons vary by order, but generally, should be addressed as brother or friar.
 
If you mean verbally, I usually extend them the same courtesy I do to priests by letting them take the lead. If they address me as Mrs/Ms Arbor, then I call them Father/Deacon. If they call me Ann, then I call them by their first name.
 
I refuse to call members of the clergy by their first name. Father (Last Name), Deacon (Last Name) that’s how it should go.
 
GangGreen said:
I refuse to call members of the clergy by their first name. Father (Last Name), Deacon (Last Name) that’s how it should go.
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This makes sense, as theirs is a vocation of distinction.

Even if I knew at the time, I probably still would have called the deacon only by his first name that day.
But never again will that be my intention, as I know better now.
 
GangGreen said:
I refuse to call members of the clergy by their first name. Father (Last Name), Deacon (Last Name) that’s how it should go.
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I find that it is usually best to call people by the name they ask you to call them. I will be formal when first introduced - Father Lastname. But if he asks to be called Father firstname or even just firstname, I do as the person prefers.

One of our Deacons is a Dr and people often call him Dr Lastname. He doesn’t correct them. Our other Deacon is also a co-worker of my husband’s and we knew him before he was ordained. I call him Jim. If I am speaking about him to someone else in the parish, I call him Deacon Lastname or sometime “Young Deacon” to differentiate him from our other deacon.
 
GangGreen said:
I refuse to call members of the clergy by their first name. Father (Last Name), Deacon (Last Name) that’s how it should go.
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I was taught that it was rude to call a priest by their last name if they had requested that you use their first name.

Our pastor has a somewhat difficult to pronounce last name. He is probably tired of people mangling it.

So he goes by Father FirstName.
 
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