What to Call the Preacher

Laymen who feel uneasy in the presence of a Protestant clergyman feel particularly uneasy when it comes time to introduce him, capture his attention, or ask him to pass the gravy. Says Dr. Franklin Clark Fry, president of the Lutheran Church in America: "They often say to me, 'What should I call you?' And I answer right back, 'Why, call me Mister.' But they never think that term is quite adequate, and if anything, they become even more embarrassed."

One safe, nondenominational way to be wrong is to call a churchman "reverend" --which is an adjective rather than a noun, and is likely to bring a shudder from even the kindliest clergyman when used as a title in direct address. "Calling a minister 'reverend,'" says the Right Rev. John Boyd Bentley of the Protestant Episcopal National Council, "is like meeting Churchill and saying, 'Good morning, honorable.' " The plain-talking Presbyterians of New Mexico's Rio Grande Presbytery (33 congregations from Tucumcari to Las Cruces) recently resolved "that all members, friends and enemies of the Presbytery of the Rio Grande are hereby dissuaded and/or discouraged from using 'reverend' henceforth as a form of address to anyone."*

But many clergymen have given up trying to find a suitable substitute, and return a weary smile when hailed as "reverend"--or "rev" or "reverent" or even "revenue." Perhaps out of desperation, clergymen are the only Americans who customarily affect the title "doctor" after receiving an honorary degree. Admits Paul F. Bobb (D.D., hon.), associate pastor of Albuquerque's First Presbyterian Church: "I prefer 'mister' but let people use 'doctor' because it doesn't jar me as much as 'reverend.' "

Says Baptist Minister Curtis R. Nims of San Francisco's First Baptist Church: "My suggestion to our congregation if they wish to be formal is to call me 'Mister Nims' or, if they prefer, since many are from the South, 'Preacher Nims' or 'Brother Nims.' " Lutheran ministers are properly called "pastor" and, although some high-church Episcopalians prefer to be called "father," most agree with the verse written by Episcopalian Henry Lewis, chaplain at the University of Michigan's Medical Center:

Call me Mister, call me friend

A loving ear to all I lend,

But do not my soul with anguish rend,

PLEASE stop calling me Reverend.

As for Rio Grande Presbytery Clerk Harry G. Willson, author of the New

Mexico resolution, he told members of his own Alameda (N. Mex.) Presbyterian Church that "a kind of 'call me mister' chant has begun. But I'd prefer that you call me Harry."

* The resolution went on to contend that it is ''blasphemous and idolatrous" to apply the word reverend to a clergyman even when it is used grammatically, as in the common form of indirect address or written reference: "The Reverend John Smith." Most churchmen would disagree.

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