Is an open-to-life fiance who had a vastectomy in the past free to marry in the Church?

[BenSinner]

If a man had a vasectomy in the past knowing full well that it was a grave sin of contraception and an invalid intention going into a marriage…but later repents of it and is now “open to life”. Would that man be allowed to marry in the Church?

 

[Horton]

That man should speak to his priest about the situation.

 

[babochka]

If the man is otherwise free to marry (any previous marriages have been declared null, etc.), the vasectomy itself would not be an impediment to marriage.

 

[Gorgias]

If the man is otherwise free to marry (any previous marriages have been declared null, etc.), the vasectomy itself would not be an impediment to marriage.

Correct. He should still seek the Sacrament of Reconciliation, though, if he hasn’t already, for the sin committed.

 

[FrDavid96]

If a man had a vasectomy in the past knowing full well that it was a grave sin of contraception and an invalid intention going into a marriage…but later repents of it and is now “open to life”. Would that man be allowed to marry in the Church?

First of all, readers here need to understand something: this is a canon-law question.

Whether or not the OP phrased it that way, it is a question about “what does the law say?”

The law says that there are no impediments to marriage other than those specifically mentioned in the law itself.

The situation described is not an impediment mentioned in the law. Further, canon 1084.3 says that this is not an impediment.

Therefore, the answer is “yes” such a man can validly marry, assuming there is no impediment.

 

[DaveBj]

If the man is otherwise free to marry (any previous marriages have been declared null, etc.), the vasectomy itself would not be an impediment to marriage.

Yes. I had a vasectomy after our second child and while living basically as a lower-case pagan, but that was no obstacle to my entering the Church some three decades later.

And as I have repeatedly said, God has historically had a sense of humor about these and similar situations.

D