The Reverend

== Usage ==
In traditional and formal English usage it is still considered incorrect to drop the definite article, ''the'', before ''Reverend''. In practice, however, ''the'' is often not used in both written and spoken English. When the style is used within a sentence, ''the'' is correctly in lower-case.<ref>{{Citation | title = The Chicago Manual of Style | edition = 16th | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | place = Chicago | year = 2010}}</ref> The usual abbreviations for ''Reverend'' are ''Rev.'', ''Revd'' and ''Rev'd''.
 
''The Reverend'' is traditionally used as an adjectival form with first names (or initials) and surname (e.g. ''The Reverend John Smith'' or ''The Reverend J. F. Smith''); ''The Reverend Father Smith'' or ''The Reverend Mr Smith'' are correct though now old-fashioned uses. Use of the prefix with the surname alone (''The Reverend Smith'') is considered a [[solecism]] in traditional usage: it would be as irregular as calling the person in question "The Well-Respected Smith". In some countries, especially Britain, Anglican clergy are acceptably addressed by the title of their office, such as ''[[Vicar]]'', ''[[Rector (ecclesiastical)|Rector]]'', or ''[[Archdeacon]]''.

In the 20th and 21st centuries, it has been increasingly common for ''reverend'' to be used as a noun and for clergy to be referred to as being either ''a reverend'' or ''the reverend'' (''I talked to the reverend about the wedding service.'') or to be addressed as ''Reverend'' or, for example, ''Reverend Smith'' or ''the Reverend Smith''. This has traditionally been considered grammatically incorrect on the basis that it is equivalent to referring to a judge as being ''an honourable'' or an adult man as being ''a mister''.<ref>{{Citation | title = The New Fowler's Modern English Usage | editor-first = RW | editor-last = Burchfield | publisher = Clarendon | place = Oxford | year = 1996}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url = http://library.thinkquest.org/10679/english/eng_abb.html | title = Information Internet: English Grammar, Abbreviations | publisher = Think quest | access-date = 24 October 2012 | archive-date = 21 October 2012 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021044051/http://library.thinkquest.org/10679/english/eng_abb.html | url-status = live }}</ref> It is likewise incorrect to form the plural ''Reverends''.  Some dictionaries,<ref>{{Citation | contribution-url = http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861701835/Reverend.html | contribution = Reverend | title = Encarta | publisher = MSN | type = online dictionary | access-date = 6 February 2009 | archive-date = 15 February 2009 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090215002506/http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861701835/Reverend.html | url-status = dead }}</ref> however, do place the noun rather than the adjective as the word's principal form, owing to an increasing use of the word as a noun among people with no religious background or knowledge of traditional styles of ecclesiastical address. When several clergy are referred to, they are often styled individually (e.g. ''The Reverend John Smith and the Reverend Henry Brown''); but in a list of clergy, ''The Revv'' is sometimes put before the list of names, especially in the Catholic Church in the United Kingdom and Ireland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive-uat.catholicherald.co.uk/article/6th-june-1947/7/ecclesiastical-and-other-information|title=Ecclesiastical and other information|publisher=The Catholic Herald|date=6 June 1947|access-date=13 October 2018|archive-date=14 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181014053023/http://archive-uat.catholicherald.co.uk/article/6th-june-1947/7/ecclesiastical-and-other-information|url-status=live}}</ref>

Male Catholic priests are sometimes addressed as ''Father'' or, for example, as ''Father John'' or ''Father Smith''. However, in official correspondence, such priests are not normally referred to as ''Father John'', ''Father Smith'', or ''Father John Smith'', but as ''The Reverend John Smith''. ''Father'' as an informal title is used for Catholic, Orthodox and [[Old Catholic Church|Old Catholic]] priests and for many priests of the Anglican and Lutheran churches. Some female Anglican or Old Catholic priests use the style ''The Reverend Mother'' and are addressed as ''Mother''.{{citation needed|date=October 2023}}

In a unique case, ''Reverend'' was used to refer to a church consistory, a local administrative body. "Reverend Coetus" and "Reverend Assembly" were used to refer to the entire body of local officials during the transformation of the Dutch Reformed Church in the mid-18th century.<ref name="Thompson1882">{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Henry Post |title=History of the Reformed Church, at Readington, N. J. 1719-1881,|url=https://archive.org/details/historyofreforme00thom|year=1882|publisher=Board of publication of the Reformed church in America|doi=10.7282/T33F4QN7|isbn=1131003942}}</ref>