Whom to call ‘Father’
From Dave Hunter, Magaliessig:
I am a bit confused regarding Nicholas King’s Sunday Reflections (October 19). Fr King wrote: “Then he reminds us how we are to behave: No special titles ‘For you are all brothers and sisters. Don’t call anyone “Father” on earth, for you have one Father, the Heavenly One’.” Why do we then call priests “Father”?
Fr Nicholas King SJ responds: Mr Hunter is quite right of course. Christians observed this consequence of the fatherhood of God, which was so important a part of Jesus’ religious experience, for several centuries. I understand calling priests “Father” started in the desert, where a spiritual guru would be known, and addressed, as “Abba”, which in Aramaic and Syriac means “father”, or possibly something a little more intimate, such as “Daddy”.
From this there developed the notion of the “abbot” in a monastery, as the “spiritual father”; and so it came about that priests in religious orders tended to be called “father”, perhaps out of politeness. Diocesan priests tended to be addressed in other ways: M. le Curé (Mr Priest) in French, for example, where Père (father) is reserved for religious.
In practice, though, it is very difficult to persuade people, on the basis of Matthew 23:9 not to call one father.
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