I should say... my Pastor (and his twin brother) are converts. They were Anglican priests from Australia for 25 years and now they’ve been Roman Catholic for 20. They look so cute when they’re standing in the Sanctuary together. They’re turning 70 this week. Really quite a fascinating story, those two. I think they’ve both done considerable time in the chaplain corps. If I have the story right, Father Bruce was the pastor, or vicar, if that’s the right term, when the parish was started in the 1980s, left, and now has been reappointed.
Father that we had before was married, I believe. He seems like a fine man... in his sixties now, probably pushing seventy.
Did it seem odd to you when you came in that people actually called the priests Father? I mean, in the Episcopal church their title was Father, and sometimes during a service or other ecclesial event I would call them Father Henry, or Father Sam. But when I was rehearsing for my confirmation, the lady in charge started saying “Father will cross here, and when he comes up to you say such and such, it made me feel funny. At first it creeped me out, but now I like it. It feels like a healthy submission to my elder.
It honors the office, not just the man.