Hello All, A week or so ago I asked a question about how to address a minister from Wales who is also a Professor of Law at one of the universities. One of people involved in getting him to come to the US wrote and asked him to clarify and here is his answer: > >Subject: Re: Fw: Clergy and Titles > >Annwyl , > >Diolch am yr ebost ac ymddiheuriadau am yr oedi yn ymateb. > >The Reverend Professor John Smith is the usual form, and can of course be >shortened to The Rev. Prof. if necessary. > >It should perhaps be noted that there is no double title here in the >sense being described by Crockfords. They are thinking of two titles, >one academic and one ecclesiastical, such as Professorand Canon, or >Doctorand Canon. They are saying one should not mix these. >Here we come to what I believe, although I am not entirely sure, is a >difference between practice in the US and in England and Wales. In >England and Wales, 'the Reverend' is a courtesy title given to clergy; >clergy are never addressed (other than on an envelope) as 'Reverend'. >Hence, the Reverend John Smith is addressed as Mr. Smith, the Reverend >Dr. John Smith as Dr. Smith, the Reverend Professor John Smith as >Professor Smith. I believe that in America - as in Scotland and >Northern Ireland - Reverend is used as a title and one could therefore >refer to 'Reverend Smith'. > > >Hence, on the programme The Reverend Professor would be appropriate, but in >introducing to me an audience, practice in England and Wales would be >to say simply Professor because that is my only title - but practice in the US >may well be different. > >I hope this is of some help. > >With my best wishes for a happy and blessed Easter - Pasg dedwydd, > > > It is interesting to see the differences between written and spoken forms of address (although we would use The Rev./The Rev. Dr. in print in the US and 'Rev. Smith' in speech, so we use different forms, too). I still am not sure that we (in the US) would call someone Rev. Dr. if his doctorate was in some other field besides religion, though, but I don't need to know quite yet! :) Basically, what he says is that "Reverend" is not an actual title in Wales, so he is not mixing academic and ecclesiastical titles. I am glad he explained it so well. Hope this has been interesting to others. Mona