Sex after a vasectomy?

[Rence]

Ok, I have a question:

So it’s a sin or invalid to marry if one or both are not able to complete the marital act. It would stand to reason then, that they’ve never had sex together (after marriage at least - perhaps if one had an accident before the marriage, whatever the case may be), so…how are they sinning? They’re living together, commited to each other, yet they’ve never consummated the marriage. What sin is this then? I’m not sure I understand what exactly they’re guilty of?

Also, would an older man who now takes medications (some heart, blood pressure, anti-clotting agents render some men impotent) that renders him impotent still be able to marry within the Church?

 

[Vico]

Ok, I have a question:

So it’s a sin or invalid to marry if one or both are not able to complete the marital act. It would stand to reason then, that they’ve never had sex together (after marriage at least - perhaps if one had an accident before the marriage, whatever the case may be), so…how are they sinning? They’re living together, commited to each other, yet they’ve never consummated the marriage. What sin is this then? I’m not sure I understand what exactly they’re guilty of?

Also, would an older man who now takes medications (some heart, blood pressure, anti-clotting agents render some men impotent) that renders him impotent still be able to marry within the Church?

There are at several possible sins here.

1. since a Catholic must celebrate a marriage with the approval of the Church (a precept of the Church) the attempt is a sin and the civil marriage is no marriage
2. they may be tempting each other with sexual attraction by living together closely (near occassion), leading to various sexual sins (mental or physical)
3. the scandal (bad example to others or appearance of sin) of the attempted marriage
4. the scandal of living together, that they are fornicating
5. the scandal of receiving communion in the state of mortal sin

Some have taken brother sister vows and lived together and keep their lack of a Catholic marriage a secret.

The older man could marry only if some treatment would render him able to be potent at least some of the time (assuming impotence is the only impediment), otherwise there can be no grant of the right to the conjugal act (regardless of the exercise of it).

 

[jwashu]

Sterilization is definitely a mortal sin. It CAN be absolved but they really, truly have to be sorry for it. Even the best of Catholics make mistakes and sever their relationships with God from time to time, and Confession puts them back in a state of grace if they are remorseful and prepared to do penance. One can’t go out and get the snip, or tubes tied with the expectation that they can just confess it and make the sin go away. If it were that easy, we’d all be Saints.

Erin-Anne :shamrock2:

As I told a poster in the family section… there are those individuals who may not be sorry they had a vasectomy as they believe they just couldn’t have any more children for one reason or another, can they be forgiven?

What people seem to miss here is that the sin isn’t so much having the procedure IMHO but rather the why. The why is truly that they didn’t or couldn’t trust God in regards. This is very difficult for many many people, even when God has blessed them abundantly. I think many Catholics once they understand are truly sorry they couldn’t trust Him, that is the failing and through a true confession can be forgiven.

Regardless, if he has since joined the Church, then he has been forgiven of that sin and the Church has no rule saying he has to have it reversed to have relations with his wife.

Joe

 

[vera_dicere]

Marriage must be open to life. Even with a vasectomy, life can still take place, as slight as it is, vasectomies having a failure rate of about 0.02% - 0.2%, whereas tubal ligation a 0.2 - 1% failure. (dependign where you read). So yeah, a man with the snip can still get a woman pregnant, albeit, the odds are slim. (But with God, anythign is possible!)

There are different types of “ectopic” pregnancies as has been mentioned. Tubal pregnancies are always almost doomed to failure. 98% of ectopic pregnancies are tubal, and while there have been women who have successfully carried a non-tubal pregnancy, the chance of carrying a tubal are very, very slim and very dangerous.

 

[Vico]

… there are those individuals who may not be sorry they had a vasectomy as they believe they just couldn’t have any more children for one reason or another, can they be forgiven? …

For those spouses that believe they just couldn’t have any more children for one reason or another, when the motive is just and moral, may abstain entirely or to use natural family planning. So the sin comes in the form of unwillingness to abstain entirely or to use natural family planning.

 

[Petergray]

I know a guy that had a vasectomy after his third child was born because he said they were poor and couldn’t afford three children let alone four or five. He has since become Catholic and is now convicted of the decision and we were discussing ramifications in regards to his decision. I’m not too informed in this arena to help him out but was curious about something I didn’t bring up to him. Every time he and his wife have sex, the procreative aspect has been permanently removed and the unitive aspect is the only one there. What are the moral ramifications, if any, that are present here. I think I’m wording this correctly and would just like to know so I can correctly offer words of encouragement while at the same time be direct and pastoral.

Hi there,

Firstly this is a very popular question and people tend not to know the proper answer to this but here is what i find.

Jesus wants us to increase in number, so gave us the ability to. He does not want us to use what he has given in a way that goes against the use. So if we have sex after disabling it’s function then yes its a sin. Its a sin to have sex without wanting to have children from it.

As for words of advice, im not sure there are any i can think of

Listen if you want children, have sex, if not DONT its simple but yet so many people dont seem to abide by it, but lots of people do as well eg priests and celibate people. Please dont sin for a bit of “fun” in life because its not what were here for, heaven is eternal life, work towards that and i know it will be worth it

 

[tr1strev]

If the vasectomy occurs during the course of the Catholic marriage, he is then in a state of mortal sin until he becomes remorseful, confesses, is absolved and attempts to have it reversed.

You are flatly wrong in this statement. What is required is sacramental confession and absolution. You DO NOT need to attempt to have it reversed nor do you need to abstain form sex with your wife for the rest of your life.

 

[OraLabora]

Hi there,

Firstly this is a very popular question and people tend not to know the proper answer to this but here is what i find.

Jesus wants us to increase in number, so gave us the ability to. He does not want us to use what he has given in a way that goes against the use. So if we have sex after disabling it’s function then yes its a sin. Its a sin to have sex without wanting to have children from it.

As for words of advice, im not sure there are any i can think of

Listen if you want children, have sex, if not DONT its simple but yet so many people dont seem to abide by it, but lots of people do as well eg priests and celibate people. Please dont sin for a bit of “fun” in life because its not what were here for, heaven is eternal life, work towards that and i know it will be worth it

This is a matter of your personal opinion. In cases where:

1. a non-Catholic who was sterilized converts;
2. a lapsed Catholic who was sterilized but reconciles;
3. a practicing Catholic who was sterilized and has genuine regret;

all are entitled to forgiveness and none are barred from engaging in marital relations with their legitimate spouses. It is what my confessor has said, what numerous priests have said, and in no place does the Church teach one must abstain in the cases mentioned above once absolution has been obtained for the sin of being sterilized.

 

[chain]

I have wondered about this as well - but to a more specific point.

A vasectomy prior to marriage could be an indication that the man was not open to life (at least at the moment of the vasectomy) - If he was still not open to life at the moment of his marriage, then would the marriage be valid? Likewise if the priest is confident (I do not know what would warrant that confidence) that the man was not open to life, could the Priest legitimately conduct a marriage in the first place?

I have a friend who is considering converting to Catholicism and getting married in the Catholic Church. At some point in that process he will need an annulment. His prior marriage was not open to life for most of its 20ish years, which I suspect will come up in the annulment hearing. I do not know if his recent vasectomy will also come up. I am curious if the tribunal may bar him from remarriage (as he is not open to life at this point, and only intervention from the Holy Spirit is going to change that - which I pray for).

 

[Vico]

… If he was still not open to life at the moment of his marriage, then would the marriage be valid?

Likewise if the priest is confident (I do not know what would warrant that confidence) that the man was not open to life, could the Priest legitimately conduct a marriage in the first place? …

This is how I understand it. The canon law does not refer specifically to being “open to life,” rather to granting the right to the natural act apt to the generation of children, and that sterility is no impediment. So it a man with vasectomy married but granted the normal conjugal rights it would be valid, as long as all the other requirements are met. Nobody has a right to children, rather, they are a gift from God, but the denial of the right to non-contraceptive conjugal act is what invalidates, regardless of sterility.

 

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