Who is arguing doctrine? The subject of this thread is Roman priests as “fathers.” The book of Acts is not doctrine, it is real recorded history. If the leaders of the early church, apostles, elders (Bishops), deacons, or whatever, were called priest or father, we would see evidence of it in Acts. Likewise, the prominence of Mary. It is NOT there.
The real question is why protestants are now denying that they did it before the Catholics. See post #56. This is from Dr. Holmes who teaches religion at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. This article appeared in The Christian Century, December 4, 1985, pp. 1120-1122.