DAY 32
CHALLENGE
“Catholics shouldn’t call priests ‘Father.’ Jesus said, ‘Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven’ (Matt. 23:9).”
DEFENSE
Jesus was using hyperbole. Other passages in the New Testament indicate that Christ’s ministers have a form of spiritual fatherhood.
Hyperbole is exaggeration to make a point. It is a common feature of biblical speech, as when Jesus says his disciples must “hate” their family members (Luke 14:26; a non-hyperbolic paraphrase of this passage is given in Matt. 10:37).
Jesus does not literally mean that you can’t call anyone on earth “father.” If he did, then we could not call our own biological fathers by this term, which would be absurd. It would also rob our understanding of God’s Fatherhood of its earthly frame of reference (CCC 41, 238–39).
Jesus’ point is that we must not confuse the type of Fatherhood God has—which is ultimate—with any other form of fatherhood, which is limited and provisional. He uses hyperbolic language to make this point in a striking, memorable way, but he does not expect hyperbole to be taken literally.
Thus other passages in the New Testament indicate that Christ’s ministers have a role as spiritual fathers. Paul refers to how he became the spiritual father of the Corinthians (1 Cor. 4:14–15). He refers to the Galatians as his little children (Gal. 4:19) and to Timothy (1 Cor. 4:17; 1 Tim. 1:2, 18; 2 Tim. 1:2, 2:1), Titus (Titus 1:4), and Onesimus (Philem. 10) as his spiritual sons. Peter refers to Mark as his spiritual son (1 Pet. 4:13), and John refers to his readers as his little children (1 John 2:1; 3 John 4).
This is a standard mode of speech in the New Testament, shared by multiple authors, including eyewitnesses of Jesus (Peter and John). This widespread practice among the apostles further underscores the hyperbolic nature of Christ’s statement.
The pattern also strongly indicates the role that Christ’s ministers have as spiritual fathers, and if someone has a particular role, it is truthful to refer to him by that role. God does not object to that, and the Church follows the apostolic example when it refers to the spiritual fatherhood of priests.