Mat 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
INDEED. THX BRO.
So, is the Church wrong? Should we call priests Father? Perhaps Saint Paul can help us here. In his first letter to the Corinthians, he says:
I am writing you this not 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. Therefore, I urge you, be imitators of me. (1Cor 4:14-16)
Be imitators of him? But he calls himself Father Paul! In fact, he goes on in verse 17 to say:
For this reason I am sending you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord; he will remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach them everywhere in every church. (1Cor 4:17)
His son? Is this just Saint Paul being difficult to understand? Well, he refers to Saints Timothy and Titus as his true children (1Tim 1:2 and Tit 1:4) and even refers to one individual as my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment. (Philemon 10). Seems pretty clear he is referring to himself as a FATHER.