SEX ONLY FOR BABIES?
By Rev. Fr. Petros Mwale (Mzuzu Diocese – MALAWI)
INTRODUCTION
“Fr. Petros, is it realistic that couples have sexual intercourse only for procreation (to have babies)? Am told this is the teaching of the Church, please help.” – Kelvin (Lunzu Parish, Blantyre Archdiocese, MALAWI).
Remember to like my Facebook page for more Catholic Doctrines click👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻👇🏻 https://www.facebook.com/109027757240916/posts/253880679422289/
RESPONSE
Dear kelvin, thank you very much for your faith nourishing question regarding human sexuality.
NATURE OF SEXUAL INTERCOURSE
Sexual intercourse is a unique and special way for a man and a woman to express their love. It is a way for them to say to each other in a bodily way: “I delight in you;” “I am sorry for my selfishness;” “I promise to try harder to love you.”
THE STAND OF THE CHURCH
Sexual intercourse is a way for a man and a woman to say: “I love you today and I am committed to you in an exclusive and permanent way. I promise to continue sharing my life with you in good times and in bad; and if God blesses our love with a new life, I will welcome our child and be there to raise it with you.”
In other words, sexual intercourse is only fully authentic when it occurs between a man and a woman who have made a public commitment to love each other all the days of their lives and are open to the gift of new life. When the Church speaks about “openness to new life” it is, of course, only speaking about couples for whom this is a biological possibility.
EVERY SEXUAL INTERCOURSE FOR BABIES?
Of course God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply…” (Gen. 1:28) does not mean that a couple must have conception in mind every time they make love. But it does mean that an essential dimension of married genital sex is openness to new life.
In fact the Church will not bless a marriage if a couple deliberately chooses to exclude children from their marriage (Can 1101 § 2). From the Genesis Creation story, we can see that in the beginning of time God “wrote” out for us, as it were, the true meaning and purpose of genital sexual union (Gen. 2:24). That meaning and purpose can be summed up in two words: Partnership and Parenthood or more specifically, a committed marital relationship and an openness to new life.
CONCLUSION
The purpose of genital sexual love is the celebration and the enhancement of the love-union between a husband and his wife (the unitive dimension) and the openness of the couple to being co-creators of new life with God (the procreative dimension).
Receive my Priestly Blessings from St. Cecilia Catholic Parish (Mzuzu Diocese – Mpherembe)
Rev. Fr. Petros Mwale – Feedback: +265884150185 (WhatsApp only
SOURCES
Salzman, Todd A.; Lawler, Michael G., The Sexual Person: Toward a Renewed Catholic Anthropology. Georgetown University Press, 2008
Christopher West., Good News about Sex and Marriage: Answers to Your Honest Questions about Catholic Teaching. Servant Publications, 2000.
Coriden, James A, Thomas J. Green, and Donald E. Heintschel. The Code of Canon Law: A Text and Commentary. New York: Paulist Press, 1985.
Catholic Doctrines 