I am content that the Catholic Church has a sound response, rooted in God's revelation, for all the criticisms aimed at the church by atheist and by evangelical critics - all, that is, with the sole exception of the custom of calling priests 'father'. After detailed consideration, I have satisfied myself that there is ancient evidence that bishops were seen as 'father' over a community; but the custom of calling priests 'father' can only be dated to the 16th Century: it is not, therefore, a tradition which can be regarded as an Apostolic Tradition.
As a preacher, I must practice what I preach, and in the spring of 2011, following long discussion with my spiritual director, I became morally certain that I could not, in good conscience, use 'father' as a mode of address for priests. Since then, in unobstrusive ways, I have been seeking alternative ways of addressing clergy respectfully, and of referring to myself in the context of my ministry.
On October 29th, 2011, the assigned Gospel text for the wekeend Mass was that passage of Matthew's Gospel where Jesus gives the instruction to 'call no-one father'. I therefore gave this sermon, revealing to my parish the reasons for the non-standard forms of address I had adopted.
In the same passage, Jesus says that we should not seek to be called 'master' or 'teacher'. For several years, this website has existed under the title 'drgareth.info'. The title 'doctor', however, is cognate with the Latin word for 'teacher', and to use such a title to highlight my own teaching authority also goes against what Jesus preached in Matthew 23 - at least in the context of offering spiritual teaching. This website is therefore now offered under its new title of 'garethleyshon.info' with immediate effect, and the use of 'drgareth.info' is deprecated. The latter will be maintained, however, as a valid web address for the sake of pre-existing links.
It remains true that I do have both a First Class Honours degree in theology, and a doctorate in astrophysics. These should be reason enough to make the content of this website worth your consideration. But the documents contained herein should be evaluated on the merit of their reasoning and content alone.
Finally, my decision to take this stand is a personal decision of conscience, not allied to any person, group or movement within or without the Catholic Church. I do hope, however, that any attention gained by this stance will provoke Catholics to be more mindful of their calling to examine the teaching of Jesus Christ, and to be faithful to it, whatever the cost.
Gareth Leyshon, Pontypridd, 29th October 2011.