For the married, is it permissible to send intimate photos to your spouse?

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If you can show me from the Catechism or the Catholic moral tradition where what I’ve said is in error, I will happily own up to it.

But as it is, you have been disrespectful to me and others on here in route to trying to justify your position.

I am a priest, and I am a fallible human being. But I am a priest and a fallible human being with advanced degrees in Theology and Bioethics. So maybe, just maybe, I know what I’m talking about in applying moral principles and trying to offer guidance. And maybe, just maybe, I act here out of a sense of duty to keep people from being led astray. I post what I post out of love for souls and the desire that they go to heaven, yours and others.

But if this is what I get in return, maybe I need to focus my energy on more productive pursuits.

Lord have mercy.
 
CatholicSooner said:
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Tis_Bearself:
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CatholicSooner:
I am discussing a topic on a message board. Whether he is a priest or not has no bearing on the discussion.
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Well, that’s an interesting attitude for a Catholic to take on a Catholic discussion forum concerned with presenting Catholic teaching. Sad.

I’m out too.
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Should priests be exempt from challenges? Are they infallible?
Giving them a pass is how we got the sex abuse scandal.
They should be respected for their office but they are still humans not above reproach. I’m not saying he is wrong in this case but in general priests can error too.
If he finds I’ve acted uncharitably then I apologize.

I’ve heard a bishop tell someone that they can receive communion even when they are in mortal sin. Clergy can error. And they can error greatly. And when they error, the effects can be devastating
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If I were you, I’d be practicing the virtue of humility and asking the Holy Spirit for guidance, not telling a priest that he’s wrong because his answers present an inconvenience for you.
 
CatholicSooner said:
In short, intimate photos, even between spouses, take out of their proper context the acts proper to marriage, and the language of the body. Just as sacraments cannot take place over the phone remotely, so also must the marital embrace, and the things leading up to it, be expressed relationally and not apart from their immediate context. You’ll probably tell me that I’m wrong because what if spouses talk to one another on the phone or whatever, but there is a clear difference between that sort of action and a concrete objectification of another person in a photo.
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No, it wouldn’t be. One is an occasion of sin. The other is sacramental preparation. Jesus isn’t “teasing us” when He invites us to prayer- to draw closer to Him- prior to reception of His Body and Blood.

One who sends such images of themselves, on the other hand, is being provocative and not inviting one to communion with the whole of themselves, but only to their sexuality, idolizing it and presenting an occasion of sin.

Know where the line is, and don’t cross it.
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Wow… not cool at all.

Do you know how LUCKY we are that Father @edward_george1 still posts here? Several other priests have stopped posting because some people like to attack the priest online, simply because the priest doesn’t agree with a post.

It’s comments like yours and @catholicsooner that drive our priests away from these forums and we lose out on their insight.

In the future, I would suggest biting your tongue (or fingers in this case) when you disagree with a priest and pray on it. If needed, speak with you pastor too.

But don’t make comments like this to the VERY FEW priests we have coming to this site as part of their personal ministry.
 
edward_george1 said:
I post what I post out of love for souls and the desire that they go to heaven, yours and others.

But if this is what I get in return, maybe I need to focus my energy on more productive pursuits.
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Father, I would like to thank you once again for being here. I think I speak for most of us by saying that we really appreciate the access you grant us.

You have provided a ton of valuable posts to us, and we really appreciate it.

Thank you for your priesthood and thank you for your personal ministry in these forums.

God bless!
Phil
 
As other users pointed out, things are too easily shared. Nothing is private anymore. What if someone else sees it? It’s not worth the risk. 🙂
 
With all due respect, you aren’t Catholic so maybe telling a priest his business is going into someplace you have no business going.
 
To add on to what @phil19034 said:

As a veteran of telecommunications, never say anything on the phone that you do not want someone else to hear. I’ve written up techs who took the “random circuit check” way too far and would broadcast those intimate conversations to the entire room.

Now, post Patriot Act, it is even MORE likely that someone, some where, can drop in.

I very much doubt that most of us have true “secure lines” installed.

Everything sent digitally, texts, photos, exists out there in the cloud. If it can be subpoenaed, it is stored, and all emails, texts, etc can be subpoenaed, just look at the celebrities who have had careers ruined by a text/email exchange.

Back in the stone age, I was house sitting for friends. There was a photo album on a side table, I was thumbing through it and BAM intimate photos, just left out on the end table.

My husband was 53 years old when he dropped dead. Our adult son cleared out his digital stuff, I am thankful there was no surprises waiting there!

Unless you are exhibitionists, it is imprudent.
 
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childinthefaith said:
because people are so uptight and immature about such things.
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Immature is apparently arguing for the dignity of the human person and the intimacy of marriage. Mature is saying that sexting is great.

Got it.

Please tell me what part of my own reasoning is immature, silly, or uptight.
 
No matter how “secure” you think your privacy settings are, there’s no such thing as 100% security on the internet, in e-mails, or in texting. I wouldn’t risk it.
 
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