On  Jan 4, 7:54 pm, Chris Smith wrote in soc.religion.christian:

>Presuming that you mean the Catholic Church (since the Church of
> Rome is  a rather ambiguous term), I'm sorry to hear that you think so.

I notice that it is common for members of the Eastern Orthodox sect
like Matthew Johnson to call the Catholic Church by the insulting term
"Church of Rome". Sad to say, MAtthew has forgotten his own Russian
Orthodox Church committed genocide in Russia against Protestants,
Catholics, Jews, and Muslims. I can quote about the persecution of
Catholic Christians by the Russian Orthodox leader, Putin, in Russia,
if you want me to do so.

>Nevertheless, your specific problems should not be much of a concern.
>Specifically, you say:

>That said, I agree that the practice of referring to priests as
>"father" can be confusing. It is nevertheless an ingrained cultural
>element of a billion people around the world, and unlikely to change
>soon.

I see nothing wrong in calling a priest as "father" as he is our
father on Earth. In fact, somewhere in the Gospel, we read,
there was a rich man, called Abraham as "father Abraham",
so, there is nothing wrong in this custom.

Gary.
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