In today’s Gospel, Jesus says:
“Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven.” (Matthew 23:9)
At first glance, that sounds absolute. Catholics are often questioned, and even condemned, over it. But Catholics understand this passage in light of the whole of Scripture—and especially in context.
1. Jesus Is Condemning Pride, Not Titles
In Gospel of Matthew 23, Jesus is rebuking the scribes and Pharisees for loving honor, status, and public recognition. The issue isn’t vocabulary—it’s spiritual pride and self-exaltation.
If Jesus meant this as a literal prohibition of the word “father,” then we would also have to stop calling:
Our biological fathers “father”
Abraham “our father in faith” (cf. Romans 4)
Any teacher “teacher,” since the same passage also says, “You have but one teacher”
Yet Scripture itself continues to use these terms.
2. St. Paul Calls Himself a Father
In First Letter to the Corinthians 4:14–15, St. Paul writes:
“I am not writing this to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. Even if you should have countless guides to Christ, yet you do not have many fathers, for I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”
Paul explicitly calls himself their father in Christ.
He does it again in:
First Letter to the Thessalonians 2:11 – “We treated each one of you as a father treats his children.”
Letter to Philemon 1:10 – He refers to Onesimus as “my child, whose father I have become in my imprisonment.”
If calling a spiritual leader “father” were inherently sinful, Paul would not describe himself this way under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
3. The Meaning of “Father” in Catholic Practice
When Catholics call a priest “Father,” we don’t mean:
He replaces God the Father
He is the ultimate source of life
He is superior to others
We mean that he exercises spiritual fatherhood—bringing people to new life in Christ through:
Preaching the Gospel
Baptism
The Sacraments
Spiritual guidance
Just as Paul said he became a father “through the gospel.”
4. The Biblical Pattern of Spiritual Fatherhood
Scripture frequently uses fatherly language for spiritual relationships:
Abraham is called “our father in faith”
Elders in Israel were called fathers
Paul uses fatherly imagery for ministry
The fuller context implies that titles, like phylacteries and tassels, mean nothing with out the humble service that ought to be present. Our Lord condemns usurping God’s authority but not acknowledging spiritual fatherhood as participation in God’s fatherhood.
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