Priests are often witnesses to and part of some of the most important moments in the life of people. Even people who aren’t particularly religious often appreciate the rituals and traditions involved with having weddings, funerals, and christenings overseen by a priest.
As part of the tradition, many people may want to find one particular priest for these events. If you have a family member who went to church every Sunday, you may want a priest they know personally to perform their funeral when the time comes, for example. You might also want the same priest who married your parents to perform your ceremony.
Priests aren’t super well-known for their social media presence, so it might be hard to figure out how to contact a priest you might want to use for your event.
Defining “Priest”
The term priest is actually pretty broad. While in the US, most people will associate the term priest with Catholicism, but that’s not completely accurate. Priests exist in various sects of Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shintoism, and several forms of Christianity. The role varies somewhat between these different faiths, but it generally refers to someone who is dedicated to their faith and serves as a leader of religious services, often performing ceremonies for members of their congregation.
Though the most common religious leader called a priest in the US is Catholic, any advice in this article could be applied to priests of any religion.
Searching for a Priest by Name
There are many online databases for finding priests, but you still need to have some information to get started. For example, you will need to know what dioceses the priest was a member of to know where to search. Also, having the name and location of the church they served at previously is certainly helpful. But as long as you know their full name and what community of Catholicism they belonged to, you can probably find some information.
Similarly, for non-Catholic priests, knowing which community of faith they belonged to within their religion and having some idea of the time frame in which they served is a good place to start when you’re looking to find a priest by name.
Contacting the House of Worship
There’s a chance that the priest you’re looking for may still be serving in the same church or temple they were when your relatives attended, so your search may be complete by just this first step.
If you know the church or temple the priest previously served, you can always go the old-fashioned route and give them a call. Even if that priest no longer serves that congregation, they may be able to give you some information about where they are now. Even if they can’t give you a phone number or an exact location, they can still probably help point you in the right direction, especially if you’re a bit fuzzy on the details.
They can most likely give you accurate details about the full name of the priest and the years that they were in residence there. Most religious organizations keep some sort of record of their congregations and priests.
Some houses of worship may even be able to give you a phone number or refer you to the house of worship where the priest now serves.
Using a People Search Tool
Once you have at least a name and approximate location, you can use a people search tool to find the contact information of who you’re looking for. You don’t need to use a special priest finder, and not every diocese will have one. Luckily, you can use something like this search engine to find their contact information. Even just knowing their previous location can help you narrow things down if they have a more common name.
Finding a Priest
No matter what sort of priest you are looking for, it may not be as hard as you thought to get in contact with them. If you can find their full name, you can start your search. Extra information, such as the house of worship they served or the state or city where they lived can help a lot as well.
There are a lot of reasons why you might be searching for a particular priest, and with the modern search tools at your disposal, it’s not as hard as you might think to find a priest by name.
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