Attend/hold services
 

In an "auto-examen" ( :thinking: ) about Medieval Church, I wrote:

...a priest who attended regular services...

The book said that they "held regular services".

May I say "attend" instead "hold" in this case? "Atender" would be the commonest word in Spanish in this case. :thinking:

Thanks. :)

It depends what his function was. If he organized the services and had a leading role, then he "held regular services".

If he was just one of the congregation, then he attended, as did everybody else. :)

He organised. Then hold, I guess. :sad:

In contemporary English, the parishioners attend services and the preacherman holds services. In Engish attend mostly means acudir, but it
also means to care for or pay attentions. This second meaning is not as
common,

Is the preacherman a priest?

This depends on the particular type of Christian service. A priest is only for Catholic services. :)

What is the name for a Protestant "priest", then?

Vicar (in the Church of England). In the USA, they have various other names.

In NAm English the Protestant counterpart of vicar or priest is a minister,
or less formally, a preacher...

most common

In the US, in the Protestant sects of the church, you usually have a "pastor" or "preacher"

Sometimes the term "minister" is used, but it does not always mean the leader of the church as pastor or preacher means. You can have a "Minister of Music" or a "Minister of Seniors", etc.... In large churches, you usually have a Head Pastor and Associate Pastor.