[maryz]

I do hate that Fr. plus first name -- it's infantilizing. Wasn't there a little kids' TV (maybe all of them -- I wouldn't know) where all the adults were addressed as Mr. Bill or Miss Susan or whatever? I think it's common in modern kindergartens too.

If they can't deal with formality, it would be less demeaning just to go with first names.

[FormerLib]

That’s a curious thing to me since the Orthodox always refer to a priest as Fr. first-name. Of course, Orthodox parishes are smaller by design so there is more of a personal connection to individual clergy and it’s not uncommon for a priest to serve at the same parish for 40+ years.

[livius]

Actually, use of the first name (preceded by Father, of course) doesn’t bother me. The Orthodox always refer to their priest as “Father Dmitri,” or whatever, and of course religious in the Latin Rite are often known as Brother or Father [First Name].

In some countries, the first name is used with a title that makes it very formal: A Spaniard will greet his boss as Don José, for example, although he would never call him simply José.

So as long as they keep the “Father” part, I don’t care.

[Bigg Red]

Re: the Father Mark comment of mine:

I have since learned that Fr. Mark is a monk and that Fr. Mark is his clerical name and, therefore, a totally respectful way to address him.

So my comment about the practice that I complained of does not apply here, and my apologies to Fr. Mark are in order.