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So, although married men were ordained bishops and priests (pledging continence), the preferred pattern was unmarried or widowed but not remarried men, as “Paul” writes to Timothy (or Titus?).

A few corrections, if I may...

It was husbands and fathers who were placed in the office of bishops. Priests were made obsolete along with the Old Covenant, as Jesus is the new High Priest. (FYI: A priest intercedes between man and God, while bishops oversee a church.)

The "pattern" was married men, according to the Bible. (Your mileage may be incorrect.) And it wasn't a "preferred pattern", it was the command of God through Jesus's apostle Paul. (Again, Catholic mileage may be contrary to Scripture.)

Peter was married. That much is plain. Whether he was ever appointed a bishop over a church is not.

Paul, of course, would not have been qualified for that office, being unmarried. But then again, an apostle is not the same as a bishop.

But being married, they were expected to be continent.

Again...

And when later a lot of priests ignored their pledge of continence, they were eventually forbidden to be married at all (1000s).

...and again, contrary to Scripture. Where does it stop?

You are free to interpret Scripture the way you wish. But Scripture does not simply “say” what you say.

I get so tired of people to whom it’s just so darn obvious that Scripture “says” what they already believe.

What I have written represents a reasonable interpretation of Scripture. I do not not claim to interpret Scripture. I also am basing it on information we have about the early Christian history post-Scripture.

Live in your bubble in which “Scripture says” what you’ve decided it says.

The key Scriptures; Mt. 19, 1 Cor 7, the “husband of one wife” passage and even the Peter’s mother-in-law passage, taken together, actually all point to preference for “eunuchs for the kingdom” for priests/bishops.

But your mind is already made up. Keep talking to yourself.

But don’t condescend to “correct me.” Offer your alternative opinion if you wish, but lose the “let me correct you” patronization.

Priests were made obsolete along with the Old Covenant, as Jesus is the new High Priest. (FYI: A priest intercedes between man and God, while bishops oversee a church.)

Excuse me, but the English word "priest" comes directly from the Greek word presbyter (elder), and the office of elder was most certainly not "made obsolete along with the Old Covenant". In fact, it was instituted as part of the New Covenant.

A priest intercedes between man and God, while bishops oversee a church.

All Christians are called to intercede for each other.

A bishop is an episkopos or overseer. The office presbyter, during or shortly after NT times, became the deputy or vicar of the bishop, as bishops were understood to oversee the entire church of a small region or city. This is crystal clear from the writings of Ignatius of Antioch (d. AD 107), who knew the Apostles personally.

And, BTW, the NT says that we are all priests, in the sense of a different Greek word, hieratos, one who offers sacrificial worship to a deity.