Impediment to Marriage?

[K-McD]

Had my teaching on the Sins against Marriage. Thanks for your help. A question came up. The Church teaches that children are a gift, a good and an end of marriage. If a young couple enters the marriage with either one or both of them not open to having children, then the marriage is invalid. Being open to life is one of the conditions of marriage.

“Will you accept children loving from God, and bring them up according to the law of Christ and His church?” (Statement of Intention)

In the case of the young couple who do not want to have children, that is easy. There is an impediment to the marriage. There are a couple of situations I need help with.

1. What about a couple who desiring to be reconciled with the church for their cohabitation, want to be married in the church.  OK, not a problem, but one of the couples under went sterilization while they were cohabiting.  (In my opinion it was a clear case of ignorance of the Church's teachings)  Can they still be married in the church even though they won't be able to have children?  Remember, they have this knowledge before hand.

2. What about a couple who are in their 50s and want to be married in the church.  She is not in the child bearing years, so children are not a possibility.  Are they still able to be married in the church?  Remember, she knows before hand she won't be able to have children.

Thanks

 

[Corki]

Sterility is not an impediment to marriage - whether natural (by age or disease) or intentional. In case #1, there may be a sin involved and it should be taken to confession but once absolved the couple can be married (providing there are no other problems).

 

[Whitacre_Girl]

If someone sterilized themselves before they entered into the marriage, repented of that, they are free to marry. God can bless people despite sterilization. This isn’t a problem. There are many cases of barren women having children. I also know real life examples of children born in spite of tubal ligations or vasectomies. No birth control is 100 pecent, unless you take out the uterus altogether. Even in these cases, marriage is still open.

Same is true for post-menopausal women. They are free to marry as God has also blessed older women with children (Sarah from Genesis). As long as they recognize God could bless them with children and they are open to that. (that’s my reading, anyway)

The only impediment to marriage regarding children is if the couple refuses to have children and are not open to that possibility at all in their MINDS.

 

[puzzleannie]

1. What about a couple who desiring to be reconciled with the church for their cohabitation, want to be married in the church. OK, not a problem, but one of the couples under went sterilization while they were cohabiting. (In my opinion it was a clear case of ignorance of the Church’s teachings) Can they still be married in the church even though they won’t be able to have children? Remember, they have this knowledge before hand.
2. What about a couple who are in their 50s and want to be married in the church. She is not in the child bearing years, so children are not a possibility. Are they still able to be married in the church? Remember, she knows before hand she won’t be able to have children.

Thanks

there is no problem in either case. Both couples will of course confess all grave sins they are conscious of before marriage as is the case with all sacraments. The law does not state the parties must be physically able to conceive, only that they are open to all the ways God may choose to act in their marriage to support life, and that they are physically able to complete the marriage act.