Bishop Paul's Guide for Postulants - Diocese of Bethlehem

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6 HOW TO WRITE A LETTER Even though church letters are very often business letters, the ecclesiastical custom, especially when writing to clergy with whom you are not at the moment entirely enraged, is to end the salutation with the more friendly comma rather than the usual secular colon. To your own bishop: To somebody else’s bishop: The Rt. Rev. Jane D. Smith The Rt. Rev. John D. Smith 333 Wyandotte, etc. etc. Dear Bishop, Dear Bishop Smith, Or, Dear Bishop Jane, To an archdeacon The Ven. Jane Doe Etc. Dear Archdeacon Doe, To a canon The Rev. Canon John Smith etc. Dear Canon Smith, To the Presiding Bishop The Most Reverend Jane Smith 815 Second Avenue, etc. Dear Bishop Smith, By long tradition going back to before there were surnames, bishops often sign only their first name, or in more formal correspondence, may use their see as a surname “Samuel, Connecticut”, although this latter practice has a ducal ring and is usually saved for moments when very heavy artillery is called for. Do not mistake this one word signature for an invitation to address them by their first name in conversation. Remember, the use of titles creates a safe, respectful, and professional space, and thus it is for the sake of the safe relationship that you will probably not be invited to use the bishop’s Christian name alone. It is not about you; it is about space for work. Which leads us to WHEN THE BIG DAY COMESTITLES both an excursus and a demonstration Once ordained, you are, in the third person, The Reverend Your Full Name. “The Reverend Father/Mother J. Doe” is not Anglican usage, nor is “Reverend” by itself a term of address in the Episcopal Church. Sometimes “Mr.” or “Ms.” is substituted for the first name when making a second reference to a member of the clergy, still in the third person “The Rev. Mr. Smith will also preach…” but this is almost entirely disused in our region. Mr., Mrs., and Ms. are fine by themselves, although a bit archaic in much of the country. Speaking descriptively, in this diocese the general practice is that clergy are addressed informally as “Father” or “Mother” with first or last name. Deacons are always and only addressed as “Deacon.” Again, the use of titles creates a safe professional space in which ministry can happen without implying or demanding artificial intimacy; in
the end it protects the faithful more than it shows respect for your role, although it does do both. Some women clergy locally use other forms of address, given a variety of thinking about maternal titles, and this matter is still in flux. Please do not take it as a slight if the bishop, with his limited capabilities and the other burdens he bears, does not remember particular forms of address you may have developed for yourself, especially if they involve the word pastor he’s been there, done that, and is not going back. A plussign, for the cross, is a customary part of the signature of bishops, although its origins are disputed; in the last century a plus after the name became the fashion among some presbyters, although reasons for this are hard to explain. Notwithstanding any of that, using a plus sign as a form of address or term of reference is always incorrect; never say “Dear Jane+,” or “according to +Helen,” except in jests of exquisite dryness. The use of plusses by priests certainly would only be appropriate as a signature, never as a term of address or a reference in the third person, except, again, in jest. The use of the plus by bishops as a signature is a venerable tradition but one that H. Boone Porter says reflects a time when bishops were illiterate and simply made their mark, which grew into a cross, but this contention has not been completely demonstrated. The use of two plusses to indicate metropolitical status is an unbearable foppery and an embarrassment. If you use the plus, it is with the signature only and means that you don’t use any other designator. CORRECT: Jane+ or Jane Smith+ INCORRECT: The Rev. Jane Smith+, Fr. John Smith+ UNTHINKABLY GAUCHE: using the cross/plus as part of a typed signature block under your written signature. Rural deans do not style themselves “The Very Reverend,” a title reserved to deans of institutions such as cathedrals and seminaries, which in fact have a staff over which the dean literally, leader of ten presides. If you desire to indicate academic status on your letterhead, the degrees go after your name in ascending order of importance/rarity. Thus earned degrees go first, honorary degrees second, and higher honors last: “The Reverend Your Name, M.Div., J.D., D.D., F.R.H.S., M.B.E.” Only the highest degree in each category is used thus, not both M.Div. and D. Min. If you have two Ph.D. and three D.D. degrees, you are still only Ph.D., D.D. Persons who studied at Oxford and Cambridge by ancient usage add Oxon or Cantab after the D.Phil. or Ph.D. degree. The practice of addressing people as “Doctor” varies from culture to culture. In Germany, for instance, everybody with an earned or honorary doctorate in any subject is addressed as Doctor in secular and church life, and in fact, if you have both an earned and an honorary doctorate, you may be addressed among the Germans as Doktor Doctor Schmidt abbreviated Dr. D. Schmidt, the secondhonoraryD. sometimes being italicized from the Latin doctor. Among the British, the rule was for a long time that only honorary doctors were called Doctor as is still the case with all bishops there. Physicians, but not surgeons, eventually joined those ranks, then some academics, and finally surgeons. No less an authority than Judith Martin a.k.a., 7
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Page 3 and 4: It is not a “Roman Collar” tech
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Bishop Paul's Guide for Postulants - Diocese of Bethlehem

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