Is masturbation considered a grave/mortal sin in the catholic church? If so, why? What is the reasoning behind it?
For anyone who’s familiar with Dobson – what about his view that masturbation as a purely physical act – i.e., there is no lust or impure thought involved, no thoughts of other women/men – is okay?
I didn’t know the catholic church had an “official view” on this.
The church certainly does. From the Catechism:
"[2352] By masturbation is to be understood the deliberate stimulation of the genital organs in order to derive sexual pleasure. "Both the Magisterium of the Church, in the course of a constant tradition, and the moral sense of the faithful have been in no doubt and have firmly maintained that masturbation is an intrinsically and gravely disordered action."138 “The deliberate use of the sexual faculty, for whatever reason, outside of marriage is essentially contrary to its purpose.” For here sexual pleasure is sought outside of "the sexual relationship which is demanded by the moral order and in which the total meaning of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love is achieved."139
To form an equitable judgment about the subjects’ moral responsibility and to guide pastoral action, one must take into account the affective immaturity, force of acquired habit, conditions of anxiety or other psychological or social factors that lessen, if not even reduce to a minimum, moral culpability."
The basic reasoning is that masturbation is a sex act that doesn’t adhere to the God-given purposes ordained for sex. These are 1) unitive (deepening of the bond between spouses within the marital relationship) and 2) procreative (in accord with God’s command to be fruitful and multiply).
Anything that frustrates either or both of these purposes - be it masturbation, contraception, adultery or premarital sex - is a grave/mortal sin.
Whether there are lustful thoughts accompanying any of these activities is beside the point, they are, as I said, contrary to the purposes for which the Church teaches us that sex has been designed.
Welcome to the forums by the way
