I don’t trust priests who ask me to call them by their first name. I don’t mean ones who say, “Call me Father Bob.” If I have a close friendship with him, and we’re sitting having a beer that’s one thing. I mean priests who insist that everyone call them just plain “Bob”. What are they ashamed of?
My usual reply is “I don’t call you Father for your own glory. I call you Father because of the person you stand in for. Calling you Father gives glory to God.”
I lived with two priests for six years and to this day I still refer to them as Father Murphy and Father Doyle.
