Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?

Catholics have a veritable treasury of beliefs and traditions about Jesus’ family life, but some of these are only tenuously connected with the information we have from the Bible. While the gospels are full of stories about Jesus’ ministry, death, and resurrection, we are left to piece together details about his early life and his familial connections on the basis of a few tantalizing passages. One tenet of Catholic belief is that Jesus was Mary’s only child. Since this is connected with the dogmatic teaching about Mary’s perpetual virginity, it’s a pretty serious tradition for Catholics. What, then, should be made of the scripture passages that reference Jesus’ siblings? Do these references undercut Catholic tradition and dogma? The guest on this episode of the podcast is going to help clarify this issue. Alice Camille is a nationally known and award-winning writer, religious educator, and retreat leader. She has worked in parishes and campus ministry, and published extensively on scripture, including for U.S. Catholic, in our monthly Testaments column. She has been a guest on Glad You Asked before, discussing other topics pertaining to the Bible.  Read more about this topic, and read some of Camille’s work, in these links: “Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?” by Megan Murphy-Gill. https://uscatholic.org/articles/201312/did-jesus-have-brothers-and-sisters/  “Why was Mary a virgin?” by Alice Camille. https://uscatholic.org/articles/201612/why-was-mary-a-virgin/  “Would Jesus recognize the ‘nuclear family’?” by Jeannine Pitas. https://uscatholic.org/articles/202212/would-jesus-recognize-the-nuclear-family/  “Scripture interpretations are never set in stone,” by Alice Camille. https://uscatholic.org/articles/202306/scripture-interpretations-are-never-set-in-stone/  Glad You Asked is sponsored by the Claretian Missionaries.https://claretiansusa.org