From Catholic sexual ethics to biology to foreplay to positions, our articles are a reference point for all your Catholic sexual queries.
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Ask Your Catholic Sexual Ethics Questions!
If you have a moral question about Catholic sexual morality, whether it’s about what can and can’t be done in the bedroom, NFP, premarital do’s and don’ts, or anything of this nature, ask it in the comments!
Answering Various Moral Questions About the Wife’s Orgasm
A thoughtful look at the moral dangers that can arise when using marital aids. Learn how to avoid misuse, maintain virtue, and protect authentic marital intimacy within a Catholic moral framework.
When Is It Sinful to Use Natural Family Planning (NFP)?
Many couples view Natural Family Planning simply as “the Catholic option,” but few understand the moral conditions governing its use. The Church permits NFP for serious reasons, yet warns against selfish or indefinite avoidance of children. This article clarifies when NFP may be sinful and if so, whether venially or mortally drawing from traditional Catholic moral theology. Understanding these distinctions helps couples practice NFP with both prudence and peace of conscience.
When Desire Disappears: Restoring Libido in Catholic Marriage
Low libido is a common yet often misunderstood challenge in marriage. While stress, hormones, or medication may play a role, couples can find healing and renewed intimacy through understanding, support, and faith-based guidance. Addressing the root causes physical, emotional, and spiritual can restore desire and deepen marital connection. With the right help, love and passion can flourish again.
What’s the Difference Between Pelvic Health Coaching and Pelvic Health Physical Therapy?
Discover how pelvic health coaching differs from physical therapy learn when each supports healing, growth, and lasting pelvic well-being.
Can Catholic Spouses Ever Have Sex For Pleasure? And Did the Church Change Her Teaching on This?
Can Catholic spouses ever have sex primarily for pleasure? This question has long stirred debate among theologians and married couples alike. While the Church condemns pursuing pleasure as an end in itself, she also affirms that sexual delight when united with love and the true ends of marriage is both good and holy.
Answering a Reader's Moral Question about the Wife's Orgasm
Physical challenges in intimacy can leave Catholic couples unsure about what’s morally permitted. This article addresses common questions about climax and ejaculation, offering reassurance grounded in Catholic teaching. It helps couples approach these issues with honesty, love, and faith.
Some Moral Dangers to Avoid When Using Marital Aids
While marital aids can sometimes help couples deepen intimacy and overcome physical challenges, they also carry subtle moral risks if not used rightly. As with any good in marriage, intention and moderation matter.
Mixed-Orientation Catholic Marriages: Navigating Homosexual or Bisexual Attraction with Faith and Intimacy
Catholic couples sometimes face the reality of mixed-orientation marriage. Far from invalid or hopeless, these marriages can be holy, intimate, and fulfilling. Discover what the Church truly teaches and how couples can grow in faith and love.
Why You Will Benefit From a Catholic Pelvic Health Coach
Discover how Catholic pelvic health coaching integrates faith, virtue, and body awareness to strengthen your marriage and honor your God-given design.
Is Vaginismus Grounds for an Annulment? A Response to a Reader
Can vaginismus be grounds for annulment in a Catholic marriage? A canon law explanation responding to a reader's question about impotence, marital consummation, and Church teaching.
Are All Sexual Sins in Marriage Mortal Sins?
Are all sexual sins between spouses mortal? This article explains Catholic teaching, the difference between grave and venial sins, and the path to holiness in marriage.
Is it Sinful for Catholics to Initiate Sex for Pleasure
Catholic couples often wonder: is it wrong to desire sexual pleasure in marriage? This article explores Church teaching, the dangers of hedonism and scrupulosity, and how pleasure when rightly ordered deepens spousal communion and holiness.
Is All Sexual Pleasure Immoral Outside Sexual Intercourse: Refuting a Common Objection
Is all sexual pleasure outside intercourse immoral according to Catholic teaching? This article refutes the common objection that any genital stimulation outside the marital act is intrinsically disordered by clarifying the crucial distinction between complete and incomplete sexual acts. Drawing on Pius XII, St. Alphonsus Liguori, and traditional moral theology, discover how spouses can legitimately express intimacy without violating Church teaching.
Are Sexual Fantasies Permissible in Marriage?
Are sexual fantasies permissible in Catholic marriage? Discover the nuanced moral guidance on whether spouses can enjoy sexual fantasies within the bounds of Catholic teaching. Learn how sexual thoughts about one's spouse, when grounded in real intimacy and free from sin, can be a healthy part of married life, according to Church doctrine and moral theology.
Prayer Intentions
This page invites readers to share their prayer intentions and join in praying for one another, trusting in the intercession of Our Lady and our patrons, Saints Louis and Zélie Martin. The team commits to daily prayer for all intentions and regularly offers the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass for them. Visitors are encouraged to post their own needs, pray for others, and find comfort in a community united in faith.
Should You Marry Your Best Friend? Thomas Aquinas Says Yes!
Should you marry your best friend? According to St. Thomas Aquinas, true marriage is more than a legal or biological union—it's the highest form of friendship. Rooted in both natural law and divine grace, this conjugal friendship is what sustains a marriage through time, making friendship not optional, but essential to love that endures.
Can Catholic Spouses Practice “Karezza” Method of Sexual Intercourse?
Is amplexus reservatus (the “karezza method”) moral for Catholic couples? This article explores Catholic theology, magisterial teaching, and moralist debates on whether deliberately stopping short of orgasm in the marital act is a sin or permissible form of intimacy.
Defining Intimacy: Aquinas, Psychology, and the Fourfold Intimacy Model
Intimacy is often reduced to sex or feelings, but marriage demands something deeper. Drawing on Aristotle, Aquinas, and modern psychology, James Walther explains the Fourfold Intimacy Model — spiritual, intellectual, emotional, and physical — showing how true intimacy is an interpersonal state of secure vulnerability that engages the whole person.
Letter to Our Readers: Moving Forward
Thanks to your generosity, we reached our $2,500 monthly goal on August 25th—just in time to keep CatholicIntimacy.org publishing weekly articles and videos, and developing new resources for couples. With a streamlined team and a fresh Squarespace site, our focus is on sustaining $2,500 each month so creation can continue without interruption. Every prayer, share, and donation—whether $10/month or a one-time gift—helps lay the foundation for a Catholic renewal in marital intimacy.