It Came from the Risen Consciousness

 

 

 



In his blog Clergy Confidential, Father Tim Schenck writes that in the diocese of Connecticut a resolution has been proposed to “mandate the elimination of gendered titles for priests.”  (“Hello, Mother, Hello Father” September 26, 2014.)  http://clergyconfidential.blogspot.com   This means not using “Mother” or “Father” as a courtesy title.  The reason this is a bad thing is that the use of “Father” for males comes from the old patriarchal church structure and addressing female priests as “Mother” supposedly reinforces this by giving a different title to females, instead of having a one- name-fits all honorific.

Of course there are options:  Reverend, Pastor, Vicar and probably others.  If the resolution should pass, there would be plenty of things to call the person who is your spiritual advisor and whatever else he or she is to you.  Father Tim says he really doesn’t care what people call him, and he thinks that most priests don’t.  When I was a Presbyterian, ministers were either Dr. or Mr.  (If there were any women, they would be Dr., Mrs., or Miss.  Ms. was not yet an option.)  When I became a Unitarian, like everyone else, I called the ministers by their first names.

But this raises the question of what to call the laity.  Usually, everyone goes by first names, but just in case the occasion is more formal, what do you do?  Mr., Mrs., Miss, and Ms. are gender specific and reflect the bad old days of the patriarchy, when women were considered property and had no rights or protection. 

How about Congregant Smith or Parishioner Jones or Christian Miller?  Maybe it would remind people of the French Revolution when everybody was “Citizen” or the Communist party where everyone was “Comrade”.  This did not stop them from killing each other, but at least they had linguistic equality.

 

And speaking of gender specificity, have you ever heard God referred to as She?  I am embarrassed to say that it always surprises me to hear it.  Of course I don’t have a problem with it, since I am Open-Minded and Liberal, but I still think it sounds weird.  I am working on getting over it.

But I can’t help wondering if God should really be referred to in any way that also refers to humans.  How about an all-inclusive pronoun, like shim (she and him) and for the possessive shis (she and his)?  Or why not It?  You have to be sure to write it with only one t so as not to confuse the deity with Cousin Itt Addams, but I think it might work.  And maybe it might spread to be used to refer to anyone, eliminating the awkward he or she.

And while they’re at it, maybe the linguists could think up a word to be used for addressing more than one person, when “y’all” won’t do?  And how do you form the possessive of “you guys”?
And what about single words for “aunts and uncles” and “nieces and nephews”?

There’s probably a tenured job or department chairpersonship in it.