The Fatherhood of the Priest

Books on spiritual fatherhood/paternity are very rare. * Thomas E. D. Hennessy, O.P., “[The Fatherhood of the Priest](https://isidore.co/misc/Physics%20papers%20and%20books/Zotero/storage/QB47ZTSF/Hennessy%20-%201947%20-%20The%20Fatherhood%20of%20the%20Priest.pdf),” *The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review* 10, no. 3 (1947): 271–306, [https://doi.org/10.1353/tho.1947.0016](https://doi.org/10.1353/tho.1947.0016). is a condensed version of his 1950 Angelicum dissertation *De paternitate sacerdotis* , which appears here in English as *The Fatherhood of the Priest* ; unlike the article, the book-length version contains another section on the praxis / practical/pastoral application of spiritual fatherhood. Elaborating on Eph. 3:15 ("...of whom all paternity in heaven and earth is named"), he describes the various degrees of participation in fatherhood: 1. divine fatherhood within the Godhead 2. fatherhood of divine adoption 3. God's fatherhood of natural creatures 4. human fatherhood 5. fatherhood of human adoption The St. John Chrysostom quotes in it: 1. [*In 1 Tim.* hom. 6](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230606.htm): "The Priest is the common father, as it were, of all the world" 2. [*De Sacerdotio* , lib. 3](https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/19223.htm), n. 6: > 6\. These [priests] verily are they who are entrusted with the pangs of spiritual travail and the birth which comes through baptism: by their means we put on Christ, and are buried with the Son of God, and become members of that blessed Head. Wherefore they might not only be more justly feared by us than rulers and kings, but also be more honored than parents; since these begot us of blood and the will of the flesh, but the others are the authors of our birth from God, even that blessed regeneration which is the true freedom and the sonship according to grace. > [...] God has bestowed a power on priests greater than that of our natural parents. The two indeed differ as much as the present and the future life. For our natural parents generate us unto this life only, but the others unto that which is to come. And the former would not be able to avert death from their offspring, or to repel the assaults of disease; but these others have often saved a sick soul, or one which was on the point of perishing [...] For not only at the time of regeneration, but afterwards also, they have authority to forgive sins. [...] Again: our natural parents, should their children come into conflict with any men of high rank and great power in the world, are unable to profit them: but priests have reconciled, not rulers and kings, but God Himself when His wrath has often been provoked against them. * * * > [*How do the Roman Catholic Church reconcile these two facts?*](https://christianity.stackexchange.com/a/77925/1787) Similarly to how she interprets [1 Tim. 2:5](http://drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drl&bk=61&ch=2&l=5-#x) ("For there is [...] one mediator of God and men, the man Christ Jesus") as not excluding Blessed Virgin from being [Co-Redeemer](https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=32818): There is only one Fatherhood, the Divine Relation of the First and Second Persons of the Holy Trinity, of which all other fatherhoods are said [analogously](https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/library/dictionary/index.cfm?id=31790) and of which they are but imperfect participations. [Eph. 3:15](http://drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drl&bk=56&ch=3&l=15-#x): "all paternity in heaven and earth is named" after God the Father. There are various degrees of fatherhood. 1. "divine fatherhood within the Godhead" (fatherhood in the proper sense) "True generation by way of *identity* of nature." Fatherhood ranked by degree of participation in #1: 1. "fatherhood of divine adoption" ([Rom. 8:15](http://drbo.org/cgi-bin/d?b=drl&bk=52&ch=8&l=15-#x)) "True generation by way of a *participation* of nature. Formal Paternity." By grace we participate in God's nature. 2. "human fatherhood" "True generation by way of a *similitude* of nature. Formal Paternity." 3. "God's fatherhood of natural creatures" "No generation, but the procession of living beings by way of a similitude of God's essence. Non-formal Paternity." 4. "fatherhood of human adoption" "No generation, no procession of creatures; but the external principle perfecting generation. Non-formal paternity." source: pp. 276 & 283 [Thomas E. D. Hennessy, O.P.](http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/7832263) “[ **The Fatherhood of the Priest**](https://isidore.co/misc/Physics%20papers%20and%20books/Zotero/storage/QB47ZTSF/Hennessy%20-%201947%20-%20The%20Fatherhood%20of%20the%20Priest.pdf).” [*The Thomist: A Speculative Quarterly Review*](http://www.thomist.org/jourl/explore.htm) 10, no. 3 (1947): 271–306.