The following article is from the July-August 2010 issue of Family Foundations, the publication of the Couple to Couple League International (CCL).

Anne and Joachim, parents of the Virgin Mary

Does the Church believe that sex is immoral unless aimed at procreation?

THEY SAY: In Time magazine’s May 3, 2010 cover story, “The Pill at 50: Sex, Freedom, and Paradox,” Nancy Gibbs writes that religions opposed contraception because “sex, even within marriage, was immoral unless aimed at having a baby.” Does the Church teach that the marital act should only be valued for reproduction?

THE FACTS: The Catholic Church does believe that the procreation is an essential element of the marital act. By studying the language of the body, we can clearly see what Humanae Vitae calls “biological laws that apply to the human person” and conclude that the marital act is intrinsically connected with procreation.

Yet the Church accords equal value to the unitive aspect of sexual activity. In fact, in their recent document “Marriage: Life and Love in the Divine Plan,” the U.S. bishops explain that these two purposes are inseparably connected. In other words, altering or eliminating one distorts the other. The unitive meaning is distorted if the procreative meaning is rejected because love, by its nature, is life-giving. Thus, contraception actually diminishes conjugal love. Likewise, the procreative meaning is tainted if the unitive is not fully present (i.e., if someone were to view his or her spouse as simply a way to produce offspring, such as with artificial reproduction techniques).

Catholics believe that sexual union is the most intimate and profound way of showing love for another person. It involves a mutual giving and receiving of all of one’s self, helping a husband and wife become “one heart and one soul.” As fertility is an inherent part of the human person, the church opposes contraception because by thus devaluing fertility, contraception devalues the human person and the marital union. One cannot give oneself totally and completely while withholding one’s fertility.

To be fair to Ms. Gibbs, the early Church Fathers of the Patristic Age did indeed teach that the marital act was solely for procreation and that spouses should intend children when they engaged in intercourse. Even St. Augustine taught that marriage and sexual intercourse were for procreation. However, through the centuries Church teaching and theology have developed. It was St. Alphonsus Liguori in the 18^th century who united the two purposes of the marital act and taught that both should exist in the intentional order at least implicitly. This teaching has been upheld ever since, and reaffirmed in documents such as Casti Connubii, Humane Vitae, and Theology of the Body.

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Natural Family Planning Classes Taught

Classes in Natural Family Planning are taught in 17 locations in the Chicago metro area, including southeast Wisconsin and northeast Indiana. The next series of classes will begin Sunday, Aug. 29, 2010 at 6 pm at St. Irene Church in Warrenville, IL, taught by Mike and Denise Kenealy, 630-393-2180. The method taught is the Sympto-Thermal Method, and it is also taught via CylePRO software.

To register, and for a list of classes throughout the U.S., go to the CCL Central class locator. For information on the Chicago chapter of CCL, go to the Classes by Location/Maplinks.