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Answering a Reader’s Questions about Anal Stimulation, Sexting, and Sexy Photos/Videos Within Marriage
Some of the questions you as our readers ask are so valuable that we would like to take the opportunity to broaden the audience for their answers. In this article, we are answering a reader’s questions about anal stimulation, sexting, and the exchange of sexy photos and videos within marriage.
A Reflection on Natural Family Planning Awareness Week by Fr. Thomas Loya, M.A., S.T.B.
The following reflection was written by Fr. Thomas Loya, a Byzantine Catholic priest who is the pastor of Annunciation Byzantine Catholic Parish in Homer Glen, Illinois, and the Director of Pro Life and Marriage and Family Ministry for the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Parma. He is also the pastor of the parish attended by Theo McManigal, our social media manager. The following reflection was shared in the parish bulletin and the weekly eparchial newsletter and is reprinted here with Fr. Loya’s permission.
Open Floor! Ask Your Catholic Sexual Morality Questions Here!
Every so often we like to open the floor to your questions!
Have a question about Catholic sexual morality? Ask anything from challenging marital intimacy questions to moral questions about NFP, or even about chaste dating. All questions will receive a thoughtful, faithful reply.
Am I Using My Spouse for Pleasure?
What does it really mean to “use” your spouse as a means to an end during sex? This article brings John Paul II’s personalistic language into conversation with traditional Catholic moral theology to clarify when the pursuit of sexual pleasure remains within conjugal love—and when it risks reducing a spouse to an instrument.
Must Couples Intend to Conceive Each Time They Have Intercourse?
Must Catholic married couples intend to conceive every time they have sex? This article examines recent magisterial teaching on procreation, conjugal love, and why openness to life does not require an explicit intention to achieve pregnancy in every marital act.
Why Should You Trust Our Apostolate on Catholic Sexual Ethics?
With conflicting Catholic voices offering competing views on sexual morality within marriage, finding a trustworthy source can be difficult. This article explains how our Apostolate grounds its guidance in Church teaching, rigorous moral theology, and the wisdom of trusted Catholic moralists.
Can an Orgasm Outside of Sex Be Permitted if the Other Spouse Asks?
Can a Catholic spouse ever permit an unintended orgasm outside of sex when the other spouse asks for sexual affection? This article examines a difficult question in marital chastity, the principle of double effect, and why Catholic moral theology distinguishes between deliberately procuring orgasm and tolerating an unintended one for a proportionately serious reason.
The Moral Significance of Aftercare after Sex
Aftercare after sex is more than emotional intimacy; it can carry serious moral weight in marriage. This article explains how tenderness after the marital act helps safeguard spouses from treating one another as mere sources of pleasure, a disposition that can risk grave sin.
Can Catholic Spouses Try Different Sex Positions Other than Missionary?
Few questions about Catholic teaching on marriage are surrounded by as many jokes, rumors, and half-remembered medieval claims as the morality of sexual positions. Is missionary position uniquely “approved,” or can married couples licitly choose other forms of intercourse? This article provides an answer!
Another Renowned Moral Theologian on Sexual Acts Outside Intercourse
Periodically, we plan on dropping excerpts from highly esteemed traditional moral theologians on questions pertaining to marital chastity and sexual morality. Many of these are taken from our Compendium which you can access here. Today’s excerpt is from renowned moral theologian Benedict Merkelbach, O.P.
Can a Catholic Wife Pursue Breast Augmentation in Marriage?
A Catholic look at the morality of breast augmentation, weighing intention, medical need, beauty, marriage, modesty, and chastity through the lens of Catholic moral theology.
Adultery Without an Affair? The Sin of Mental Adultery
What does it really mean to commit adultery in the heart? This article offers deeper Catholic clarity on mental adultery, explaining when lustful thoughts or sexual fantasies become sinful and how spouses can better understand the call to purity, fidelity, and marital love.
Ask Any Catholic Sexual Morality Questions You Have in the Comments!
An open invitation for our readers to ask any questions they may have about Catholic sexual ethics or marital chastity
Renowned Moral Theologian on the Do’s and Don’ts of Sexual Love Between Spouses Outside the Marital Act
Periodically, we plan on dropping excerpts from highly esteemed traditional moral theologians on questions pertaining to marital chastity and sexual morality. Many of these are taken from our Compendium which you can access here. Today’s excerpt is from Hieronymous Noldin, SJ.
Can Wives Orgasm Outside of Sex? Defending the Church’s Teaching
If the female orgasm is not procreative, why can’t it take place outside of sex along with other incomplete sexual acts? This article offers a robust explanation for why the Church’s teaches against this.
Can Catholic Spouses Exchange Sexy Photos With Each Other?
In this article, we will answer whether or not Catholic spouses can morally send each other sexually risqué photos of each other to spice up intimacy or prepare for the conjugal act.
Answering Objections Against Oral Stimulation Within Marriage
In this article, we thoroughly debunk a couple common objections against the morality of oral sexual stimulation used as foreplay between Catholic spouses.
Sexual Morality During Spousal Separation
Spousal separation can make a trial out of nearly every facet of life, including our sexuality. In this article we address how separated spouses are supposed to understand their sexuality and the obligations attached to it during such a confusing state of life.
Can Spouses Engage in Any Oral Stimulation Outside the Conjugal Act?
In the past, our Apostolate has tackled whether or not oral stimulation can be done as preludes to the conjugal act. But in this article, we want to answer whether limited expressions of oral stimulation could be done even outside the conjugal act itself, outside a proximate danger of orgasm.
Will You Go to Hell for Disagreeing with St. Alphonsus on a Moral Issue? Correcting a Common Myth
In this article, we debunk a common myth circulated by certain voices online which states that disagreeing with Alphonsus on a matter of marital chastity necessarily puts your soul in jeopardy.