June 8, 2015
Our parish property committee at St. Austin’s is finalizing the plans for the renovation of our church and rectory exterior. And as we “get into the weeds” of this project, a long time bone-of-contention has again surfaced. As we have looked at signage for the building, we have run into a problem. Namely, what is the name of the church?
There has been in the parish, I am told, a long standing controversy over this issue, centering on an apostrophe. Is the proper name of our church, “St. Austin Church” or “St. Austin’s Church?” The only difference being the “’s” at the end of Austin. I am writing this on the Feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury, a.k.a. St. Austin, so it seems a good time to address this
thorny issue.
Both the Austin Diocesan Directory and the Kennedy Directory (the listing of all dioceses, parishes and Catholic institutions in the nation which is used to establish tax exempt status), list us as “St. Austin Church.” Sans apostrophe and “s.” But, if you take the time to look at our name over the central doorway, you will see in foot tall letters that we clearly are “St. Austin’s Church,” with the apostrophe and “s.”
The confusion carries on to our letterhead. The two most recent examples of our parish stationary identify us as “St. Austin Parish,” But an older form I found lying around has an image of the church tower and the words “St. Austin’s Church.”
So which is it? I think back on my previous experience serving at other churches. When I was at Old St. Mary’s in San Francisco, and prior to that to a church of the same name in Chicago, it was always named in the
possessive, with the apostrophe and “s.” There was a clear understanding that the church was under the patronage of Mary and was in some sense hers.
This name once caused me some trouble. When I was at Old Saint Mary’s in Chicago, I gave a mission appeal for the Paulists at a totally Hispanic parish in Chicago. In my inept Spanish I failed to announce that I was from “La Iglesia Antigua de Santa Maria” (the Old Church of St. Mary), and instead said I was from “La Iglesia de Santa Maria Vieja,” the Church of St. Mary the Old Lady. (Fortunately, our Hispanic brothers and sisters are very indulgent and forgiving of our murdering of the Spanish language and focus rather on our attempts to communicate. But I digress.)
Similarly, I always spoke of St. Andrew’s in Clemson. In New York when using the short title “St. Paul’s” we always included the possessive, but when using the longer title “St. Paul the Apostle” we did not. I notice that when the name is longer than just one word the possessive is usually dropped, so you might have St. Augustine’s Church but St. Augustine
of Canterbury Church (not Canterbury’s). It is all rather confusing. So what does it mean to have a heavenly patron? When a church is named after a saint, does the church become the saint’s property? That does not make sense. The name on the deed for this property is the Diocese of Austin, and we are not claiming them as our patron saint.
What then is the role of a heavenly patron? According to Wikipedia, the patron saint is a “guardian, patron or protector of a particular place” and a heavenly advocate for our parish. Basically the heavenly patron is a friend in high places who can put in a good word for you. It can’t hurt to have such a friend. But it doesn’t really answer the question.
I am of two minds on this. Part of me likes the consistency of staying with our title in the Diocesan directory, the Kennedy Directory, and our letterhead and web page banner. On the other hand I like having a sense of connectedness to our heavenly patron, St. Austin (a.k.a. St. Augustine of Canterbury), some real sense that he has some “skin in the game” and that our community not only honors him but belongs to him. That way he has some responsibility for us. Our church and parish community is under his patronage and protection. We can sure use it.
So should the apostrophe stay or go on our new signage? Rather than a popular vote, the most compelling argument will carry the day. We will have to wait and see what our signs say.