# A question for those who have spoken with Catholic priests... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 28, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143 "2012-10-28T16:50:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/41 "2012-10-29T15:23:26Z")
In the 70’s, perhaps during confession or another formal scripted ceremony, but I honestly can’t recall. Certainly, never in conversation and not in the last 25 years. Going to a diocese school, we students grew to know the parish priests pretty well. All were normal young men, to the best of my knowledge, quick with humor and pretty informal when out of their official role. They’d usually address us by our first name if they knew it, and we’d, in turn, call them Father X. ---
**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/42 "2012-10-29T15:30:43Z")
Never addressed as “my child” or “my son”. We did however have Father Moran who had the most mesmerizing Irish brogue. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/43 "2012-10-29T15:39:36Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > What about you? Ever been called “my child”? I always thought they used that form of address when they couldn’t remember your name. Much the same as an elderly Englishman using, “My dear boy…” ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/44 "2012-10-29T17:54:03Z")
No on the “my child/son.” Yes on the Irish accent. Three of the last 4 priests at the church we attend in San Diego have been Irish. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/45 "2012-10-29T20:11:36Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > No, but it does narrow down which church \*\*thelurkinghorror \*\*learned from. > [Sign of the cross - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sign_of_the_Cross) > Most “Hollywood Catholics” do it left to right. > More information with a generous dose of WTF here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpRzqXG1dhc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpRzqXG1dhc) Well, the vast majority of American Catholic Churches are Latin Rite, so, yeah… But no, I mean I have seen right to left several times in movies or TV shows. If not outright stated, I still highly doubt they were intending an accurate portrayal of a Maronite church. Sorry, I saw one recently, but can’t recall any specific names. Probably in some of those exorcism crap movies. ---
**Author:** ![bartleby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bartleby/32/10491_2.png) [@bartleby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bartleby)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/46 "2012-10-30T16:17:32Z")
17 years of Catholic school. 5 parishes. 30 + years of Active Catholicism. Never been addressed in such a manner. (I was flipped off by a priest in HS once though…) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/47 "2012-10-30T19:58:19Z")
Grew up Catholic. Went to Catholic schools about 50% of the grades. Was an alter-boy (when Mass was still in Latin, no less). Never heard a priest say that. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/48 "2012-10-31T04:46:06Z")
altAr. AltAr! Unless you mean you had several other bodies you wore depending on your mood… _runs after **John Mace** brandishing a fully-loaded censer_ ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/49 "2012-10-31T11:46:45Z")
**Nava** , my child, chill!!! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/50 "2012-10-31T12:27:15Z")
Yes **Mom**. Do I get ice cream if I’m good? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/51 "2012-10-31T12:39:08Z")
I’m not Catholic, but I went to a Catholic high school my last two years because I was a bully who needed discipline, and a Catholic college because I grew to simply love the Christian Brothers. Still do. Anyway, no priest, nun, or Brother has ever addressed me as “my child,” nor did I ever hear any of my classmates addressed as such. In high school everyone was on a last-name basis; in college it was all first names (except for the guys who’d gone to the high school, who often stayed with last names among themselves for obvious reasons). ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/52 "2012-10-31T14:51:44Z")
It might be a faulty memory on my part but I seem to remember the bishops using the term “my child”, or visiting priests that were considered dignitiatires for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/53 "2012-10-31T15:09:44Z")
Priests and nuns addressing people as “my child” is one of many staples of TV shows and movies dealing with Catholics, even though I have NEVER seen a single real priest or nun do that. There are countless other things like that- in my entire life, I’ve only heard ONE priest ever ask, at a wedding, if anyone had any objections. And that priest was an Episcopalian who’d converted. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/54 "2012-10-31T15:28:12Z")
I’ve been to Catholic churches a few times in the last couple years. Never heard the priests say that. Of course this was in SE Virginia with fairly young priests. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2012, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143/55 "2012-10-31T23:07:25Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But not necessarily a “second language accent”, it could very easily have been only a regional accent. Being Basque is not the same as having Basque as your native language: in fact, at least half of us Basque don’t speak Basque and many of those who do are truly bilingual and have no “foreign” accent in either language… Good point, of course. I do remember that Fr. [name omitted] did speak the Basque language, and that Spanish-speakers I knew said to me that he had an accent when speaking Spanish, but that may well have been because the Spanish-speakers I knew back then were immigrants, or the children of immigrants, from South and Central America, or Cuba. Certainly he would have had a different accent from them, but it may well have passed unnoticed in Spain, or at least in his neck of the woods. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-question-for-those-who-have-spoken-with-catholic-priests/639143.md?page=2)