Can sterile people marry?

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Sanctus_Paladin said:
I think if you can’t have children you need permission of some kind.
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Neither the Church nor the State requires special permission for infertile couples to marry. The Church does require the infertile party to reveal the condition before the wedding if he/she is aware of it. Otherwise it can become a problem of consent. IOW, if I knew that the man I was going to marry was infertile I might choose not to marry him but if that knowledge is denied me I don’t get to make that decision.

I think the State would also consider a known but unrevealed infertility as grounds for annulment, again based on lack of consent.
 
thistle said:
You have to agree with the teachings otherwise its heresy!!
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Baloney, I may disagree with a teaching or doctrine, but maybe except for this forum, I don’t openly push my opinions. IMO, the Church included that into it’s CCC as means to try to keep people in line.

If you use that definition, then I’m guessing the Church is full of heretics. IMO, there are many Catholics who stay with the Church, yet still disagree with one doctrine/teaching or another. I think God would rather keep a person within the fold vs. losing him because there may be some disagreement with a particular Church teaching.
 
Just how does one determine that they are impotent or sterile prior to marriage? Is this something that actually bars two from getting married in the first place, or is it only something that is grounds for annulment when the couple finds out they cannot consumate after the fact?
 
NTOT said:
Just how does one determine that they are impotent or sterile prior to marriage? Is this something that actually bars two from getting married in the first place, or is it only something that is grounds for annulment when the couple finds out they cannot consumate after the fact?
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Sometimes illness or injury brings this to light otherwise the couple would not know.

Impotence found out on the wedding night and beyond would indeed be grounds for annulment.
 
NTOT said:
Just how does one determine that they are impotent or sterile prior to marriage? Is this something that actually bars two from getting married in the first place, or is it only something that is grounds for annulment when the couple finds out they cannot consumate after the fact?
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Impotence that is known to be permanent will prevent marriage from taking place.

Wouldn’t most men know long before they got married whether they were impotent or not? Unless it turned out to be a psychological problem that only manifested itself on the wedding night. Women might not know that they are unable to engage in intercourse.

Sterility is a different matter. While in most cases it wouldn’t reveal itself before marriage, sometimes it’s caused by something congenital or accidental. My aunt had a hysterectomy in her late teens and one young woman I know is likely sterile from the chemotherapy she endured while she was being treated for leukemia.

But it’s hard to generalize. I know another young woman who has a pituitary tumour and she was told that it would prevent her from ever getting pregnant. She was also on the pill for another problem. She had a baby in November and never realized she was pregnant until she was 5 months along. She could feel life but didn’t realize that that’s what it was. Then her unmarried friend was doing a pregnancy test and didn’t want to do it alone. M did one at the same time and hers was the only positive.
 
The church allows for individuals to seek treatment in this area.There are medical devices and chemical drugs available to assist with impotence issues that have been found to be effective.
 
Seatuck said:
The church allows for individuals to seek treatment in this area.There are medical devices and chemical drugs available to assist with impotence issues that have been found to be effective.
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While they can seek treatment it’s not a guarantee that treatment will work. The popular blue pill doesn’t work for ~25% of the men who try it. And not everyone is willing to have an implant put in.
 
mikew262 said:
Baloney, I may disagree with a teaching or doctrine, but maybe except for this forum, I don’t openly push my opinions. IMO, the Church included that into it’s CCC as means to try to keep people in line.

If you use that definition, then I’m guessing the Church is full of heretics. IMO, there are many Catholics who stay with the Church, yet still disagree with one doctrine/teaching or another. I think God would rather keep a person within the fold vs. losing him because there may be some disagreement with a particular Church teaching.
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Mike, I think there’s a difference between “Lord, I just don’t get why the Church teaches this. Could you help me understand”, and “Lord, your Church is so wrong about this and I am right”.
 
precious_roy said:
Which begs another question: could someone who has taken a vow of celibacy get married? What about Josephite marriages? Technically they wouldn’t be considered open to life in the strict sense.
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JimG said:
Well, they wouldn’t be contracepting, and supposing they are both capable of sexual relations, I’m guessing the marriage would be valid, even though never consummated.
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It would seem either party could have the marriage annulled if they so desired.
NTOT said:
Just how does one determine that they are impotent or sterile prior to marriage? Is this something that actually bars two from getting married in the first place, or is it only something that is grounds for annulment when the couple finds out they cannot consumate after the fact?
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There are three conditions here 1) sterility - 2) Prior knowledge and 3)No prior knowledge
1)Sterility is dismissed unless one knowingly withheld the information from the other.
2)Prior knowledge again means one or both withheld vital knowledge
3) Now under the No prior knowledge category you have a condition in which no time limit applies so the marriage may remain unconsummated but ASSUMED VALID for an indefinite period. There would be only two outcomes either death or annulment
 
PaulinVA said:
Mike, I think there’s a difference between “Lord, I just don’t get why the Church teaches this. Could you help me understand”, and “Lord, your Church is so wrong about this and I am right”.
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Maybe in my case, “Lord, I feel the Church is wrong on this, if I’m right, then give them the wisdom to see their error and correct it, if I’m wrong, pls do the same for me”.
 
NTOT said:
Just how does one determine that they are impotent or sterile prior to marriage? Is this something that actually bars two from getting married in the first place, or is it only something that is grounds for annulment when the couple finds out they cannot consumate after the fact?
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Good question.
NTOT said:
It would imply that he would have to be impure in order to know this.
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Not necessarily, otherwise there wouldn’t be such a thing as “performance anxiety”, which is a form of impotence. My limited understanding is that there is a nocturnal cycle of…shall we say…preparedness of the male parts that can rule out physical causes of impotence. Every “potent” guy has woken up in the morning in this state at one time or another. 😉
mikew262 said:
Maybe in my case, “Lord, I feel the Church is wrong on this, if I’m right, then give them the wisdom to see their error and correct it, if I’m wrong, pls do the same for me”.
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Um…doesn’t that make an assumption that the Pray-er thinks he or she has knowledge superior to that given to the Church?
 
Newbie2 said:
Um…doesn’t that make an assumption that the Pray-er thinks he or she has knowledge superior to that given to the Church?
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So the Church is always right in your mind? You are not allowed independent thought? The prayer simply asks God whoever is right, give wisdom to the other to change, whether that be me or the Church.

Unlike many others on this board, I believe it’s theoretically possible for the Church to be in error. IMO, the Church is led by weak and sinful men (not meaning an insult, just reality), thus open to error, and while the Holy Spirit is there to guide them (and me), the guidance must be heeded and interpreted correctly.
 
mikew262 said:
So the Church is always right in your mind? You are not allowed independent thought? The prayer simply asks God whoever is right, give wisdom to the other to change, whether that be me or the Church.

Unlike many others on this board, I believe it’s theoretically possible for the Church to be in error. IMO, the Church is led by weak and sinful men (not meaning an insult, just reality), thus open to error, and while the Holy Spirit is there to guide them (and me), the guidance must be heeded and interpreted correctly.
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In matters of salvation, yes, I believe the Church is always right. There are some teachings open to further clarification over time and some that are not.

It’s a much different thing, methinks, to question Church teachings on the basis of wanting further understanding and to proclaim her in error. Therein, in part, lies the independant thought.

What troubles me about the way your prayer is phrased is that it seems to go on the assumption that the Church is wrong. I don’t want to seem harsh, but to me it also smacks of arrogance. 🤷
 
When are people going to understand the difference between sterility and impotence? I guess they never will. People with sterility CAN marry. People with PERMANENT and IRREVERSIBLE impotence cannot. Why is this so difficult for so many people to understand?
 
Listener said:
When are people going to understand the difference between sterility and impotence? I guess they never will. People with sterility CAN marry. People with PERMANENT and IRREVERSIBLE impotence cannot. Why is this so difficult for so many people to understand?
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I think particularly with a religious forum, there’s always the “With God, everything is possible” argument. 😉
 
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