Does anyone else feel Priests should not call themselves father?

Question

I'm a father. It is the greatest title a man can achieve. I am part of a family. My wife and I created a child and I would die for them. I sacrifice for them.
These two people are all I care about.
A priest does not have the rights to call himself father. He hasn't earned it.

Answer 1

agreed, wholeheartedly...i remember when i was a sass-mouth long haired teenager, and one day i was walking out of the post office-i held the door open for the priest in our town, and he said 'thank you, my son'...i immediately told him 'you're welcome,but you're not MY father'...it was rude, i know...and it being a small town, he never let me forget it...my best friend was catholic and was 'not amused'...

Answer 2

A priest is a father figure over his flock. Just like St. Paul the Apostle explains in 1 Thessalonians 2:10,11.

Answer 3

the main literal, silliest anti-catholic tirade whilst St Paul is extremely clean: a million Cor 4:14-15 apart from, regarding religious fatherhood in the Christian community, to the Church in Corinth he wrote: "i do no longer write this to make you ashamed yet to admonish you as my liked toddlers. For nonetheless think ofyou've have been given 10,000 guardians in Christ, you have no longer have been given many fathers. certainly, in Christ Jesus I grew to develop into your father in the process the Gospel" (a million Corinthians 4:14-15). And he describes his courting with the Christians of the Church in Thessalonica as being "like a father together with his toddlers" (a million Thessalonians 2:11). would not St. Paul, in the above passages, declare to be the non secular father of the Corinthian and Thessalonian church homes, their father in the Gospel - Father Paul, in case you will?

Answer 4

--YOUR ABSOLUTELY right, the title "father" among even more blasphemis titles is going directly against Jesus admonition:

Please note how strong his expressions were:

(Matthew 23:1-12) “23 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying: 2 “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. 3 Therefore all the things they tell YOU, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds, for they say but do not perform. 4 They bind up heavy loads and put them upon the shoulders of men, but they themselves are not willing to budge them with their finger. 5 All the works they do they do to be viewed by men; for they broaden the [scripture-containing] cases that they wear as safeguards, and enlarge the fringes [of their garments]. 6 They like the most prominent place at evening meals and the front seats in the synagogues, 7 and the greetings in the marketplaces and to be called Rabbi by men. 8 But YOU, do not YOU be called Rabbi, for one is YOUR teacher, whereas all YOU are brothers. 9 Moreover, do not call anyone YOUR father on earth, for one is YOUR Father, the heavenly One. 10 Neither be called ‘leaders,’ for YOUR Leader is one, the Christ. 11 But the greatest one among YOU must be YOUR minister. 12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

--THE TITLES they want & do steal from God are of a worshipfull nature, not just a respectful one.. Jesus called the religious leaders in his time at Matthew 7 "workers of lawlessness!"

--The apostle Paul carries this identification quality to the entire religious leaders "club" by using the same word as a noun--applying it to a class of religious personages as a whole:

(2 Thessalonians 2:3-12) “3 Let no one seduce YOU in any manner, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man(as a whole--my comment) of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He is set in opposition and lifts himself up over everyone who is called “god” or an object of reverence, so that he sits down in the temple of The God, PUBLICLY SHOWING(my caps) himself to TO BE A god. 5 Do YOU not remember that, while I was yet with YOU, I used to tell YOU these things? 6 And so now YOU know the thing that acts as a restraint, with a view to his being revealed in his own due time. 7 True, the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work; but only till he who is right now acting as a restraint gets to be out of the way. 8 Then, indeed, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will do away with by the spirit of his mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his presence. 9 But the LAWLESS ONES(my caps) presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents 10 and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, as a retribution because they did not accept the love of the truth that they might be saved. 11 So that is why God lets an operation of error go to them, that they may get to believing the lie, 12 in order that they all may be judged because they did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness.”

--You are right to be both jealous & zealous for your deserved title!

Answer 5

A priest is a spiritual father. They nurture us just as our biological father nurtures his children physically. They take care of our spiritual needs through the celebration of the sacraments.

God bless,
Stanbo

P.S. St. Paul refers to himself as a father in Christ. Abraham is referred to as father many times throughout the Bible.

Answer 6

I agree they should not be called father, but not for the reason you have given. Scripture says, "Call no man father..." its God's title.

Answer 7

The term 'Father of the Church' is traditionally applied to the preachers, writers and theologians of the post-New Testament period. Their teaching, coming close to apostolic times has carried considerable weight in the Church. They are called 'Fathers' because of their antiquity, and therefore seniority, in functioning as teachers in post-apostolic times.

Against this background we see the reasons for calling the Catholic priest 'Father'. Like Paul and the Fathers of the Church he proclaims and teaches the word of God. Like Paul, he could say in relation to the faithful he serves. "It was I who begot you in Christ Jesus by preaching the Good News."

The Priest therefore is one who as God's agent or minister, begets in the faithful supernatural life by teaching the word of God and administering the sacraments. In the spiritual order, the priests is thus a 'father' to the faithful since he participates in God's fatherhood in the process of generating divine life in the hearts of the faithful.

Answer 8

Then you must stop all protestant priests from calling themselves Pastor, Minister, Brother, etc. as they have had as many cases of abuse, both physical and sexual as have the Roman Catholic Priests, through the years..

Answer 9

I am ok with pastors, but father i am not. Nowhere in the bible does it say that they should be called that.

Answer 10

Jesus said to call no one father or rabbi except for the one that is heaven...