CALL NO MAN FATHER????

QUESTION:

 Hello, my question is how do I defend my Catholic faith when somebody mentions Matthew 23:9. "Call no one on earth your father. You have but one Father in heaven." Thank You and God bless!

ANSWER:

Most Catholics have encountered the old Fundamentalist stand-by, which claims all Catholics are anathema because they have the audacity to call priests “father.”  Matthew 23:9 says, “Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.”  To the Evangelical or Fundamentalist mind, the Catholic stands condemned.  The Bible “plainly prohibits calling priests ‘father’,” they declare.  How do we respond?

 

For this apparent problem, the Catholic’s best friend is the Bible.  Ephesians 6:2-4 declares:

 

‘Honor your father and mother’ (this is the first commandment with a promise), ‘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.

 

Wouldn’t the unbiased observer have to acknowledge that your father is someone on this earth? How can St. Paul call someone on this earth father when Jesus says, “call no man your father on earth?” If the strict Fundamentalist interpretation is to be held, then we have a contradiction in Sacred Scripture.  No Christian believing in the inspiration of Scripture holds this to be possible. 

 

Some Fundamentalists will respond and claim Jesus is talking in the context of calling religious leaders “father.”  He is not condemning calling anyone at all father.  The problem with that interpretation is twofold. First, Jesus did not say, “call no man father on earth except your biological father.”  He said, “Call no one your father upon earth.”

 

Second, religious leaders are called ‘father’ in Scripture as well.  Consider the words of our Lord in Luke 16:24:

 

And he (the rich man) called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy upon 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.’

 

Would anyone deny Abraham to be a “religious leader?” Not only does Jesus refer to Abraham with the title of ‘father’, but St. James refers to Abraham as ‘father’ in James 2:21 and St. Paul refers to Abraham as ‘father’ seven times in Romans 4:1-18.  Are we to believe Jesus, St. James and St. Paul are contradicting Matthew 23:9?   

 

It should be noted that some Evangelicals would claim that it is acceptable to refer to our forefathers in the Faith as “father.”  And that would include “father” Abraham.  It is just not acceptable to give a present-day spiritual leader the title “father.”  Once again, we have to point out that Jesus does not say this! This is a tradition of some modern-day Fundamentalists.  Whatever happened to “sola scriptura,” anyway? And isn’t it interesting that what began as a Scripture text “plainly” prohibiting calling “ANY man father” has now become a text with many exceptions to this “clear” prohibition?  

 

What about the question of calling “living spiritual leaders father?” Once again, the Scriptures come up Catholic on this point.  In I John 2:13-14, St. John refers to the leaders of the church in Ephesus to whom he is writing as “fathers” twice.  Notice two important points.  First, they are not “fathers” because they have physical progeny (hence, we are not talking about physical paternity here), but because “[they] know [God] who is from the beginning.”  And second, notice he gives them the title “father.”

 

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 calls both Abraham and the then living elders of Jerusalem “father” in the same context.

 

And the high priest said, ‘Is this so?’ And Stephen said: ‘Brethren and fathers, hear me.  The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham…

 

And in I Corinthians 4:14-15, St. Paul refers to himself as “father.”

 

I do not write this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children.  For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers.  For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

 

Limited space does not allow me to quote to you I Thessalonians 2:11, I Timothy 5:1-2, John 4:12, Acts 4:25, Romans 9:10, 1 Samuel 24:11-12 (David calls King Saul his “father” who is trying to kill him) and more.  All of these verses refer to men, whether alive at the time or not, as “father.” 

 

I find it ironic that while the Fundamentalists defend their position by claiming certain “exceptions” to Matthew  23:9 (all exceptions seem to be permitted except one that would permit calling priests “father”), the Catholic Church takes a much more literal interpretation of the text (who are the real “Bible Christians” here?).  For Catholics, there are no “exceptions” to Matthew 23:9 and its prohibition against calling men “father.”  What do I mean by that, you ask?

 

The text is very clear.  Call no man father.  But this same text also says to call no man “teacher” in verse 8.  And yet, we know there are many called “teacher” in the New Testament (e.g. James 3:1, Ephesians 4:11).  The key to understanding the text is found in a proper understanding of the nature of the Body of Christ. 

 

The Douay Rheims translation of Ephesians 3:14-15 will help us to see the truth of the matter:                                                                                                                    

 

For this cause I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom all paternity (Gr.  – paternia – “fatherhood”) in heaven and earth is named.

 

God the Father is our One, True Father.  All other “paternity,” be it our biological male parent or our spiritual leaders in the Church participate in His unique Fatherhood and represent it to us.   They neither take away from nor do they add to this one, unique Fatherhood; they establish it on the earth. 

 

Christ, is our one “teacher” as Matthew  23:8 says.  All other “teachers” participate in His unique office of “Teacher” and represent it to us.  They neither take away from nor do they add to this one, unique office of Christ; they establish it on the earth.

 

The context emphasizes the sin of pride among the scribes and Pharisees.  They loved to be called “teacher”, “father”, or “Rabbi.”  But their pride pointed men to themselves rather than to God the Father from whom they received true fatherhood and in whom their fatherhood subsisted.  Outside of God the Father, there are no fathers at all in the true sense of the term.

Remember that Jesus was living in a time where some religious leaders and even some political leaders were worshipped as Gods.  Caesar, for example, demanded divine worship of his subjects.  He was considered to be “father” and the multitudes in the Roman Empire were his children who were required to worship him. 

 

As we ponder all of the above texts, the final question we should ask ourselves is this: The real question is not “why do Catholics call their priests ‘father’?” The more apropos question is: “Why don’t Protestants call their spiritual leaders ‘father?’  Jesus, St. Luke, St. Paul, St. James, and St. John do it.  Why shouldn’t they do the same?”