Brothers and Sisters? Q. I know that the Church believes in Mary’s perpetual virginity, but what are we to make of the passages in the Gospel that refer to Jesus’ brothers and sisters?Rose, via email A. There are a number of places in the New Testament (see Mk 3:31-34; 6:3; Mt 12:46; 13:55; Lk 8:19-20; Jn 2:12; 7:3-10; Acts 1:14; and 1 Cor 9:5) where Jesus’ kinsfolk are mentioned using terms such as “brother†(adelphos), “sister†(adelphe) or “brethren†(adelphoi). But “brother†has a wider meaning both in the Scriptures and at the time they were written. It is not...
