Richard gets called them all, so what’s the difference between reverend, vicar, priest and father?

Reverend Richard Coles gets called every name under the sun in that I’m A Celeb jungle. Not that he’s being heckled with swear words or called something actually bad, but despite the fact he’s actually formally Reverend Richard Coles – nobody can help themselves call him priest, or vicar or in Maura’s case: father. Maura calling Richard Coles father is actually making my die laughing every time, but what is the difference between reverend, father, vicar, priest – since the I’m A Celeb campmates can’t come to a consensus.

What’s a reverend?

So, a reverend is the general term for a Christian faith leader. This is the term that’s correct for Reverend Richard Coles now he has retired from his parish duties – which he did in 2022.

As the Communards disbanded and Jimmy Somerville went solo, Richard took up religion in his late twenties. In the early 90s he started studying for a BA in theology at King’s College London. It was there he became a Roman Catholic, which he remains for years before returning to Anglicanism in 2001.

Richard was then selected for training in Church of England priesthood – beginning this in 2003 and becoming fully ordained in 2005.

Via ITV

Okay, so what’s a vicar?

A vicar is more specific, and is the title used when the reverend has a parish to look after. In the Church of England, which Reverend Richard Coles was part of, a vicar is the priest of a parish whose revenues belong elsewhere. A vicar can also be referred to as a curate or parish priest.

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Reverend Richard Coles went on to retire from being a vicar in 2022. Speaking on his time as a self-described “half-time vicar”, Reverend Richard Coles said “‘How do you do all the things you do?’ I am frequently asked, and the answer is by neglecting important things and disappointing people. I was once called in the middle of the night to attend a parishioner’s deathbed and I could not because I was in Glasgow doing Celebrity Antiques Road Trip. I found someone to cover, but it should have been me.

He also started turning his back on the Church of England after a noted increase in negative sentiment towards gay couples, citing a “conservative, punchy and fundamentalist” direction that he didn’t agree with.

What’s a priest then?

Priests are clergy members who can perform baptisms, marriages, funerals and other religious ceremonies. All priests are also reverends. But not all are vicars.

So why does Maura keep saying father!?

Father is a colloquial term for a reverend – so you’d call Richard Father Coles if you knew him well. Sometimes the combination of Reverend Father would be used, but it’s a colloquialism rather than an official title.

If someone could mail this guidance to the difference between reverend, vicar, priest and father to the I’m A Celeb camp – both me and the Reverend Richard Coles would be very grateful.

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Featured image via ITV and Fabio De Paola/Shutterstock