Pastors or Priests?

Use this forum to discuss the December 2020 Book of the month, "Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe" by Hilary L Hunt M.D.
tafta
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Re: Pastors or Priests?

Post by tafta »

It may be that the author was raised as a Catholic and joined other churches where he caught on the use of Pastor referring to a Christian leader shepherding the flock. If it is not an error, it means then that he saw no harm in using the title interchangeably as it refers to the same office.
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Post by ElizaBeth Adams »

It does seem odd that the author refers to the priest as a pastor. Perhaps, he was trying to use a term that is used more broadly in other religions... Or perhaps that specific church did call their priest a pastor...
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Post by favalomane »

From the catholic perspective it's always Priest or Father but I guess from his research he found that the title doesn't really matter, all do the same thing i.e to guide people on the word of God.
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Post by Heidadela »

To my understanding, both the pastor and priest perform the same duty for the church; they guide and spiritually protect the flock. They administer the Holy communion. When you google the two, each is a synonym of the other, which means that the two can be used interchangeably. Therefore, the author is not wrong by referring to his priest as pastor.
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Ellylion
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Post by Ellylion »

Lunastella wrote: 18 Dec 2020, 12:09 Does anyone else find it strange that the author talks about a pastor when he was raised a Catholic?
I quote: "When I confronted my pastor with this observation he said to me, “most people don’t think that deeply”(p. 3).
I was raised a Catholic too and we refer to religious leaders as Priests or, more commonly, Father.
Did I miss something?
Maybe the author uses the term "pastor" in a general way, like a pastor of a flock. I guess, he wanted to say that he confronted his spiritual guide if I can put it that way. Someone who guides him spiritually.
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Post by Petruschka1 »

Catholic priests are normally addressed
by their congregation as Father. I have never heard them being referred to as a
Pastor. For me the term Pastor belongs to the Protestant church.
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Post by zulfiyya »

I don't think it matters because for the sake of his arguments and claims, pastors and priests serve the same purpose.
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Post by Kennedy NC »

I guess that they both have the specific responsibility of shepherding and thus the nomenclature may not really matter.
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Post by GoodLuck ES »

I am not Catholic but I grew up around a lot of Catholic faithfuls. I can vividly recollect that they referred to their religious leaders as Reverend Fathers or Priests, and not Pastors. The Pentecostal denomination were the ones that referred to their religious leaders as Pastors.
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Post by Beatus »

I am a Catholic too. And I have always called a priest, "Priest" or "baba" meaning father. Sometimes we call them "Padre".....in Swahili "Padri". My wife is a Seventh Day Adventist and they use "Pastor".
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Post by Brainiac140 »

I was actually raised a Catholic, and I have never had someone them pastors. We normally call them priest, and Pastors are used to refer to protestant churches
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Post by Gandhi_D 1st »

María Andrea Fernández wrote: 18 Dec 2020, 12:09 Does anyone else find it strange that the author talks about a pastor who was raised a Catholic?
I quote: "When I confronted my pastor with this observation he said to me, “most people don’t think that deeply”(p. 3).
I was raised a Catholic too and we refer to religious leaders as Priests or, more commonly, fathers.
Did I miss something?
I don't think he missed anything, I just feel he decided to just imply the term pastor instead of a priest. Although we all know priests are for the Catholic church and pastors are for Orthodox Church.
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Post by Fajarr »

It’s all cultural and preferences. They are both supposed to help guide you through God’s word.
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