Tuesday, February 21, 2017

What do you call a Mormon bishop when he's no longer a bishop?



This question came up with some of my Young Single Adults last week: "What do you call a Mormon bishop when he's no longer a bishop?"

Consider my 7th-grade math students, who went from calling me "Mr. Depew" as their teacher, to "Brother Depew" as a member of the stake high council, to "Bishop Depew" as their bishop. What will they revert to?

Some of my YSAs have said that they'll never stop calling me "Bishop." My heart gets all warm and squishy and full when I hear that.

Some of them are already calling me "Papa Pew." We have little Temperance Mae Call to thank for that. Tempe gets my heart all warm and squishy, too.

A small handful have always called me "Ray" and will never stop. They make my heart happy.

Here's the official word. I found this in the results of a Google search for "what do you call a Mormon bishop". It matches what I was taught as a young man. I haven't heard of any recent, official changes to this custom.



This is a little old, but in the April 1993 ENSIGN:
"The titles Bishop and President (designating members of temple, mission,
 stake, and district presidencies and branch presidencies) are appropriate 
even after the leader has been released." 

For what it's worth, I may not be their bishop any more, but they will always be my kids.