Lack of Intent to Procreate

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obvious_ron

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Greetings,

If I am wanting to marry, but have no intent to have children of my own, does that disqualify me from marrying in the Catholic Church?
 
obvious_ron said:
Greetings,

If I am wanting to marry, but have no intent to have children of my own, does that disqualify me from marrying in the Catholic Church?
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This would probably be something to discuss with your priest. My untrained, lay understanding is that a couple doesn’t have to actively desire children, but will accept them if they are so blessed by God.

If you intend on using contraception or sterilizing yourself, that would be a problem.
 
If you marry, intending to engage in conjugal relations, and intending to actively block or avoid the conception of a child as a blanket decision without a good reason, then yes, that is an impediment to a valid sacrament of matrimony.
 
dshix said:
If you marry, intending to engage in conjugal relations, and intending to actively block or avoid the conception of a child as a blanket decision without a good reason, then yes, that is an impediment to a valid sacrament of matrimony.
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I would agree. You need to be " open to life " to have a valid Catholic marriage.
I do wonder why you wouldn’t be open to this but that is something you should discuss with your priest. My prayers for you🙏🏻
mlz
 
The Lord is merciful. I know many childless couples who wished to have a child. Their marriages are no less fruitful. Be open to life. Don’t shut it out artificially. As Bishop Sheen used to say, “Then if the Lord doesn’t bless you with children, so be it. But at least you took the love the Lord gave you both and offered it back to Him, instead of burying it in a napkin.”
 
Last week, I had a biopsy done on my prostate. Fortunately, the results came back clean. But if it didn’t I’d be facing a dilemma due to the fact that prostate cancer treatments most often involve the side effect of male infertility.

So, what I’m saying is this: if a man does not intend to procreate (or at least try) with his wife, he should step aside and not marry her and instead let a man who does appreciate the gift of life to marry her instead.
 
obvious_ron said:
Greetings,

If I am wanting to marry, but have no intent to have children of my own, does that disqualify me from marrying in the Catholic Church?
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Grounds of annulment:

Willful exclusion of children (Canon 1101, sec. 2)
You or your spouse married intending, either explicitly or implicitly, to deny the other’s right to sexual acts open to procreation.
 
obvious_ron said:
Greetings,

If I am wanting to marry, but have no intent to have children of my own, does that disqualify me from marrying in the Catholic Church?
Click to expand...
A permanent intention against children is an impediment to valid marriage.
 
Norseman82 said:
Last week, I had a biopsy done on my prostate. Fortunately, the results came back clean. But if it didn’t I’d be facing a dilemma due to the fact that prostate cancer treatments most often involve the side effect of male infertility.

So, what I’m saying is this: if a man does not intend to procreate (or at least try) with his wife, he should step aside and not marry her and instead let a man who does appreciate the gift of life to marry her instead.
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Infertility/ sterility is NOT an impediment to marriage.
 
1ke said:
A permanent intention against children is an impediment to valid marriage.
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I think we have to be a little bit careful here. If two 60 year olds marry, we can probably be safe in presuming they don’t intend to have children. They also probably won’t do anything to impede having children either, so while they may not intend to have children that marriage it would seem to me could be still valid.

Now if a younger couple gets sterilized while still fertile right after marriage, that could be a real impediment.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
I think we have to be a little bit careful here. If two 60 year olds marry, we can probably be safe in presuming they don’t intend to have children. They also probably won’t do anything to impede having children either, so while they may not intend to have children that marriage it would seem to me could be still valid.

Now if a younger couple gets sterilized while still fertile right after marriage, that could be a real impediment.
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No we don’t have to be a little bit careful, for two reasons.
  1. permanent intention against children is a specific thing. It is an act of the will that specifically excludes children.
  2. those past child bearing years are not asked to form intention to have children-- they are not asked the question at all during the marriage rite.
 
stinkcat_14 said:
I think we have to be a little bit careful here. If two 60 year olds marry, we can probably be safe in presuming they don’t intend to have children. They also probably won’t do anything to impede having children either, so while they may not intend to have children that marriage it would seem to me could be still valid.

Now if a younger couple gets sterilized while still fertile right after marriage, that could be a real impediment.
Click to expand...
Yes, willful exclusion of children is marriage with the intention to deny the other’s right to sexual acts open to procreation.
 
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