Call No Man Father?

[Livin_the_MASS]

[img]http://ewtn.com/vcatalogue/images/items/8898.jpg[/img]


Good article!


"So you walk into your place of work one day and you stand near the coffee machine and someone decides to strike up a conversation with you. The person complains about a possible snowstorm that the news said may be heading toward your region and you reply, ''I hope it doesn't snow tomorrow, I have a meeting with my priest." The person suddenly looks strangely at you and he then asks you the name of your priest. You say, "Father McCarthy.'' The person's face reddens with anger and disappointment and he immediately recalls in his mind a Jimmy Swaggart television program in which the minister once attacked the Church for calling priests 'father.' The person remembers Swaggart quoting Matthew 23:9 and turns to you and says: ''But the Bible says in Matthew 23:9, 'call no man father on earth, for you have one Father, Who is in Heaven!' ''


The above scenario is not too far-fetched for fundamentalists often tend to take Jesus' words in Matthew 23:9 out of context as another way to attack the Catholic Church. But not so fast my fundamentalist friends. You seem to not have read many parts of the Bible which often speak of men as 'father' and you also overlook passages in which Jesus used the word 'father' when speaking about men such as Abraham. But you also take out of context the true meaning of Jesus' words forgetting who they were voiced against and why. Jesus is pointing out the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees which is quite clear in Matthew 23:6-7 in which Jesus said: "And they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the Synagogues, and saluations in the market places, and being called rabbi." Fundamentalists fail to realize that Jesus is calling all of us to humility which is precisely what He speaks about in Matthew 23:12: "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." No matter what title of honor we receive, we must be humble and realize that all good comes from God, something the scribes and Pharisees overlooked.


Is the Bible disobeying Jesus in Mark 9:14-29 (and elsewhere) when it uses the word 'father' in a number of places to describe the man who brought his son to Jesus, hoping for a miracle? And wasn't St. Paul the first to use the word "father" in the same sense that Catholics apply it to their priests? Now let's go to Acts 21:40; 22:1 where St. Paul calls Jerusalem Jews "father." Was St. Paul disobeying Jesus? Was he committing heresy? St. Paul also used the word 'father' in many other places. In 1 Corinthians 4:15 St. Paul writes to his Corinthians: "For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the Gospel." Wow! St. Paul must have spent extra time in purgatory for that one! St. Paul clearly sees himself as a SPIRITUAL father who fulfills the needs of his people just as a natural father serves the material needs of his family. St. Paul also sees himself as a spiritual father as in 2 Timothy 2:1: "You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." And in Titus 1:4 he wrote: "To Titus, my true child in a common faith" and in 1 Timothy 1:2 he wrote: "To Timothy, my true child in the faith." Then in Ephesians 6:2-4, St. Paul says: "Honor thy father and mother, that it may be well with you and that you may live long on the earth. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Isn't that what Catholic priests have been doing for 2,000 years, disciplining and teaching?


In Luke 16:24 we find Jesus saying: "And he [the rich man] called out Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame." Remember, Abraham was a religious leader just as Catholic priests are religious leaders. Not only does Jesus refer to Abraham as 'father' in Luke 16 but so does St. James in James 2:21 as does St. Paul, calling Abraham 'father' seven times in Romans 4:1-18. In 1 John 2:13-14 we discover St. John calling the leaders of the Church to which he is writing 'fathers': "I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning?" In Acts 7:1-2 St. Stephen, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:55) refers to both Abraham and the elders of Jerusalem as 'father.' And the High Priest said, "is this so?" And St. Stephen replied: "Brethren and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham." 1 Thessalonians 2:11, John 4:12, Acts 4:25, and Romans 9:10 all refer to men, whether alive at the time or dead, as being called 'father.' Hebrews 12:7-9 says that we have earthly fathers to discipline us. Once again, that's essentially what a priest does. He is a father who disciplines us in order for us to grow in holiness and humility. Also, look in 1 Thessalonians 2:1. It says: "We treated you as a father treats his children." And Philemon 1:10 says: "I appeal to you for my children, Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment." In Matthew 23:8 one verse earlier than the text in question ("call no man father") it says to call no man 'teacher.' But there are many persons who are called 'teacher' throughout the New Testament, for example, in Ephesians 4:11.

Matthew 23 can be explained by Ephesians 3:14-15 (Douay-Rheims): "For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity [Greek; paternia, English: fatherhood] in Heaven and earth is named." This truly shows what Jesus is in relation to His priests. Using Byzantine theology we know that as Jesus is the icon (image) of God the Father so are priests the icon (image) of Jesus Christ and hence we call them 'father.' Like our biological fathers who plant a seed in order for us to be conceived at fertilization, a priest plants the seed of truth i.e., the teachings of Christ and His Church and the Sacraments into their spiritual children so we can grow in holiness and humility. That's one reason why it would make no sense for women to be priests!

All true fatherhood comes from God. This is something Jews and Catholics understand. But when you begin to lose this understanding, as the scribes and Pharisees did, you think of fatherhood as not coming from God but something that you acheived on your own. Outside of God the Father, there are no fathers at all in the true sense of the term. All fathers in Heaven (such as Abraham, David, and Jacob) and all fathers on earth, such as priests, participate in the one, unique Fatherhood of God. Remember, Jesus used the word father in many instances. In Luke 14:26 He said: "If anyone comes to me without hating his father..."


Scriputre scholar Father Mitch Pacwa S.J., raised a point when he said: "There are 144 occasions in the New Testament when the title of father is used for someone other than God. It is applied to the patriarchs of Israel, the fathers of families, to Jewish leaders and to Christian leaders" (Call No Man Father, This Rock, January 1991).


Finally, here is an explanation by one of the most powerful converts to the Catholic faith, Paul Whitcomb. The following question/answer is from his booklet, "The Catholic Church has the Answer."

Question: "Why do Catholics call their priests "Father" despite the fact that Christ said: "Call no man on earth your father; for one is your Father, who is in Heaven?" (Matt. 23.9).

Answer: "Catholics call their priests "Father" because in all matters pertaining to the Christ's holy faith, they perform the duties of a father, representing God. The priest is the agent of the Christian's supernatural birth and sustenance in the world. "Father" is a title which does not conflict in the slightest with Matthew 23:9. Christ forbids the Christian to acknowledge any fatherhood which conflicts with the Fatherhood of God-just as He commands the Christian to "hate" his father, mother, wife, and his own life, insofar as these conflict with the following of Christ. (Luke 14:26). But Christ does not forbid Christians to call His own representatives by the name of "Father." Catholic priests share in the priesthood of Jesus Christ (not a human priesthood), and their sacred ministry partakes of the Fatherhood of God. Like St. Paul (himself a Catholic priest), every Catholic priest can refer to the souls he has spiritually begotten as his children in Christ (1 Cor. 4:14). St. Paul considered himself to the spiritual father, IN CHRIST, of the Corinthians: "For if you have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet not many fathers. For in Christ Jesus, by the Gospel, I have begotten you." (1 Cor. 4:15). The title "Father" is entirely proper for an ordained priest of Jesus Christ" (Whitcomb, "The Catholic Church has the Answer," Tan Books and Publishing, 1961, 1986, p. 45)."

(Catholic Apologetics of America, all rights reserved, 2004).

[phatcatholic]

that is good............can u provide a link please?

(btw, this sort of thing belongs in the apo board )

Edited April 26, 2004 by phatcatholic

[Livin_the_MASS]

[quote name='phatcatholic' date='Apr 26 2004, 12:56 AM']that is good............can u provide a link please?

(btw, this sort of thing belongs in the apo board )[/quote]
Here you go [url="http://catholicapologeticsofamerica.blogspot.com/"]http://catholicapologeticsofamerica.blogspot.com/[/url]

Just keep scrolling down it is on the main page , there is alot of good stuff in there.

God Bless
Jason

[master_alterserver]

Thanks Jason!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[IcePrincessKRS]

I'm moving this to the apologetics board since its not a debate--if it turns into on PhatCatholic will just have to move it back. lol

[Quietfire]

Jason,
really great, I had JUST read the same thing today.
thanks.

[Theoketos]

Dadda! Save us!