Gender identity of God QUESTION from Jeff May 4, 1999
Last Sunday, the priest giving the homily at our usually conservative church made an offhand comment as follows: God, our Father...or Mother, it doesn't really matter. This distressed both my wife and me, as we both felt that this was not appropriate. I consulted the CCC, but the only references I could find were those which stated that God transcends the boundaries of gender present in creation. While I believe this to be true (lest, in stating that female qualities are not present in God, we assert that the qualities present in creation exceed those of the Creator), I still feel that referring to God as Mother is inappropriate in Church, if only to avoid confusion within the congregation. What does the Church have to say about this? If there is a specific ban on the use of the term Mother in reference to God, please tell me the authority which declared it inappropriate, and what the reasoning is, as I cannot provide a concrete enough rationale for my objection to the phrasing. Thank you for your time and this ministry. May the whole Church be drawn to such obedience. Jeff. ANSWER by Mr. John Miskell on May 4, 1999
Dear Jeff, Thanks for your question. God has always revealed Himself to us as Father, Jesus taught us to pray to Our Father, and Scripture always refers to God as Father. It's the constant Tradition of the Church and is at the core of our Judeo - Christian understanding that God is our Father. Indeed it does matter. In Christ, John Miskell Back to Index Page