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| Married bishops? |
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| Q |
Doesn't the Bible say somewhere that a bishop can be married? |
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| A |
Yes. Paul, in his First Letter to Timothy states that "a bishop must be irreproachable, married only once, temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money" (1 Tim 3:1-2). And actually almost all the Apostles, whom we believe to have been the very first bishops, were indeed married. The Church from the beginning valued the spiritual discipline of celibacy (Jesus speaks of those who are "eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom" in Mt 19:12) but it was some time before the practice became mandatory for priests and bishops. |
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- fr bob |
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