My wife and I often invite Mormon missionaries into our home. Invariably these clean-shaven young men will show up knocking at our door immaculately adorned in a white dress shirt and tie, a black name tag reading “Elder So-And-So,” and a book bag over their shoulder. They are always genuinely kind and well-mannered. Sometimes they will stay for an hour − sometimes more − and sometimes we will even have them stay for dinner. These encounters consistently prove themselves to be gratifying evangelization experiences – and often it is the missionaries’ first time hearing about Catholicism from a Catholic.
Why do Catholics call their priests “Father” when Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel:
“Call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven.” (Matt 23:9)
This question can become a point of contention between Catholics and evangelical Christians. Not a few non-Catholics take this verse in its most literal sense, and so they contend that Catholics are acting in disobedience to Jesus by calling their priest named Jim, for example, “Father Jim”.
In objection to this Catholic discipline, Matthew 23:9 is quoted. Of course, Catholics recognize that Jesus is speaking with hyperbole here, and is making it clear that the Almighty Father is the eternal prototype of all fathers, the eternal Giver of Life (Consider also in this passage that Jesus also says to call no man “teacher”, so to be consistent…).
Welcome! I like to ponder what St. John Paul II called "the fundamental questions which pervade human life." Sometimes I write my thoughts down. This blog is where you'll find them.
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