Can Bishops be Married Once?

[mrfossret]

Today’s first reading is from the beginning of 1 Tim 3. It states that bishops should be married only once; then, later on it refers to deacons, thus making a distinction between the two. What would I say to a protestant who uses that scripture to ask about celebacy

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

A Bishop could be married, its not an absolute impediment. However, the Church for most of her history has asked priests and bishops to be celibate.

Therefore, 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. He must manage his own household well, keeping his children under control with perfect dignity…

- 1 Timothy 3:2-4

The Scripture passage in question is not setting up requirements for Bishops in the sense that a man chosen to be a Bishop *must *be married. If that were the case then St. Paul himself could never be a Bishop. What this passage is saying is that a man chosen to be a Bishop should not have been married more than once. The fact that the number “one” or “once” is used clearly shows that passage is about limiting something rather than requiring. Notice also the context is about the character of the individual being chosen. St. Paul is talking about the need for a man chosen as Bishop to be of impeccable character, a requirement to be married doesn’t seem to fit that context very well. It makes much more sense that St. Paul is limiting the number of marriages for candidates for Bishop to be considered.

Furthermore, to take this passage as literal requirements would then mean a candidate for Bishop must not only be a father but must also have more than one child since the passage also says he must keep his “children” (plural) under control. I highly doubt even the most fundamentalist of fundamentalists would interpret the passage in that way.