Father Robinson
Jesus told us not to call anyone on earth ‘father,’ or ‘rabbi,’ or ‘teacher,’ Christ declared we are all brothers and forbid religious titles. This was only the beginning of His blistering diatribe against religious leaders and teachers of the law. He continued with words like, blind guides, hypocrites, and snakes. Whitewashed tombs He called them, beautiful on the outside, but inside full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.
Everything they do is done for men to see; they hunger for the accolades of men. They love to be given places of honor, to be greeted in the marketplace with religious titles. (See Matthew 23rd Chapter)
Toledo is under the watchful eye of the world court as Father Gerald Robinson stands trial for the grisly murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. The first thing our justice system should do is stop calling Father Robinson ‘Father,’ and begin calling him simply ‘Sir’ or ‘Mr.’ like any other defendant. The latter are terms of respect we all share. If Mr. Robinson has a Ph.D. call him Doctor if you like, but “father” is out of place. Giving Mr. Robinson or any other man a religious title is spiritually repugnant to me. In addition our society’s obsession with the separation of church and state demands that we forbid religious titles from being used in our courts of law.
Will this trial become a mockery of things religious? A mockery to our legal system? I think there is more to this trial than meets the eye, and I believe God will be watching with keen interest how we handle this matter.