Criticism of Catholics for calling their priests "Father" stems from the practice of taking Bible verses out of context, writes Graham Osborne. (Graham Osborne Photo)
Catholics are sometimes asked why they call their priests “Father.” Doesn’t the Bible in Matthew 23:9 say “call no man father”?
This question underlines a deeper problem: the practice of taking Bible verses out of context, trying to make them mean something they don’t. This is exactly the case here.
In Matthew 23:2-12, Jesus criticizes the Pharisees because they have pridefully taken positions of great authority and consider themselves superior to all around them – crediting God for none of it: “The Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses… They love places of honour at banquets … synagogues … and the salutation ‘Rabbi.’ As for you, do not be called ‘Rabbi.’ You have but one teacher ... Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Messiah.”
In this response, Jesus is also referencing Malachi 1:6: "A son honours his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honour? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name.”
The Pharisees desire these titles and the great honour that comes with them, and fail to acknowledge that everything they have – their position of authority, their importance as a teacher or rabbi – comes from the Father.
This is what Jesus is troubled by. His message is not that we cannot call anyone teacher or father, but that we shouldn’t make ourselves somehow equal to the heavenly Father, or take credit for the gifts he has freely given us.
St. Paul proves this point when he refers to himself as a father on two different occasions. In 1 Corinthians 4:15 he writes that “I became your father in Christ Jesus.”
But note how he credits his fatherhood as coming through Jesus Christ. Similarly, in Philemon 1:10: “I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I have become.”
And in Romans 4:16-17, St. Paul refers to Abraham as “the father of us all … the father of many nations.”
In John 8:56, Jesus does the same thing: “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he was to see my day.” And in Mark 10:9, Jesus reminds us of the Ten Commandments: “Honour your father and mother.”
Clearly, Jesus is not teaching that we cannot call anyone on earth father or teacher, otherwise he would be contradicting himself. And St. Paul would be directly disobeying Jesus by calling himself a father.
Jesus is simply making the point that we must give proper honour to the heavenly Father, through whom all these other titles come. St. Paul says it perfectly: I bow my knees to the Father … of whom all paternity [fatherhood] in heaven and earth is named [Eph 3:14-15].
To call a Catholic priest “Father” acknowledges that he shares in a ministry given to him by the heavenly Father, and acknowledges the fatherly care a priest is to exercise over the flock entrusted to him.
A second objection often accompanies our question. Many quote 1 Timothy 4:1-5, claiming that these verses apply to the Catholic disciplines of priests not marrying, and of abstaining from meat on certain days: “They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created … everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected.”
Again, this charge relies on a faulty interpretation of Scripture. St Paul was addressing various heresies (mainly gnosticism) in the early Church. Simply put, these taught that matter was evil, and only spiritual realities could be good. Marriage was forbidden as it led to procreation of children – more evil matter! Additionally, these sects also taught that many foods detracted from spiritual purity – particularly meat – and so were also permanently forbidden.
In 1 Timothy, St. Paul is addressing these misguided practices. It has nothing to do with the Church’s disciplines of priestly celibacy or of penitentially abstaining from meat on certain holy days.
Additionally, the Church has the highest regard for marriage, and has never forbidden it. Celibacy is a changeable discipline in the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church, freely accepted by those entering the priesthood. But in some rites of the Church, and in special circumstances, it is permissible to ordain married men.
The practice of a celibate priesthood is also based in Scripture. Both Jesus and St. Paul were celibate, and both called for this discipline. In Matthew 19:12, Jesus teaches that “Some … have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom.” But note that Jesus then emphasizes that this celibacy is freely chosen: “Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”
Similarly, in 1 Corinthians, St. Paul writes, “I wish that all were as I myself am … The unmarried man is anxious about … how to please the Lord … the married man is anxious about … how to please his wife… So he who marries his betrothed does well; and he who refrains from marriage will do better.”
Finally, in Mark 12:24-25, Jesus points out that when the dead rise “they neither marry nor are given in marriage … they are like the angels in heaven.” This is part of the spiritual dimension of priestly celibacy: giving up something “good” – marriage – for something even better – an earthly life more perfectly conformed to the heavenly life we are preparing for.
In a sense, a priest marries the Church –“the Bride of Christ” (Rev 21:3-27). Beautiful!
Graham Osborne will be speaking at St. Mary's Church, Vancouver, Feb 23 and 24. His topic is Explaining the Faith.