Sex Transformation's Catch-22

[yesukristus]

Hey just wanna ask let’s say that one day we have the science to sex-change 100%- after the operation the man is fully a woman and vice versa. It occurs to me that this person won’t be able to sacramentally marry (assuming that he/she is a practicing Catholic). He can’t marry a man because if I’m not wrong the Church teaches that even after such a operation he remains a man- just with female sexual organs, and no man may marry another man. He also can’t marry a woman because such a conjugal union is not open to life and thus is illicit (since he now lacks male sexual organs). So he’s in the same boat as people who have been castrated. Unless he chooses to have both male and female organs… Thoughts? P.S. Please quote relevant documents thanks.

 

[DavidFilmer]

It is not a Catch-22 if it is impossible. Today, it is impossible (so it cannot be a Catch-22). Tomorrow it might be possible, and the Church will have an appropriate response.

You cannot expect the Church to have a response to every possible (but not actual) situation.

Did you really expect that anyone here could respond with actual established Catholic Doctrine about a situation that has never actually occurred, and is unlikely to occur in the next several centuries (if ever)? There are billions and trillions of such possible situations.

The Catholic Church is not prophetic - She does not have answers to questions that have never been asked. But the Catholic Church IS led by the Holy Spirit, who will give Her the answers to the questions that She is presented with whenever those questions are a matter of Faith and Morals.

 

[pollynova]

He also can’t marry a woman because such a conjugal union is not open to life and thus is illicit (since he now lacks male sexual organs). So he’s in the same boat as people who have been castrated. Unless he chooses to have both male and female organs… Thoughts? P.S. Please quote relevant documents thanks.

What? So if you can’t reproduce, you can’t marry? What about men who have had to have their testicles removed because of cancer? Or women who have had hysterectomies?

 

[PeterJohn]

I think it may boil down to desire. It is contrary to human dignity to chose to be a different sex then God makes us/allows us to be. If someone chooses to change their sex, that is in the future when it could be actually applied in a very effective way; that is a choice they are making contrary to Gods will, just like any sin.

 

[nodito]

What? So if you can’t reproduce, you can’t marry? What about men who have had to have their testicles removed because of cancer? Or women who have had hysterectomies?

Sterility (the inability to have children) is not an impediment to marriage. Impotence (the inability to have sexual intercourse) is an impediment to marriage. If a person knows with certainty that they are unable to have sex (either in general or with a particular partner) then they can not validly marry. The marital act is essential to the marriage. So a woman with no vagina or a man with no penis cannot marry validly. But a woman with no uterus or a man with no testicles can validly marry, because such persons are sill able to consummate the marriage.

 

[GEddie]

Gender is not carried by the sexual organs but by the DNA in every body cell. No medical procedure will change that.

So a man, even acquiring a femalized body, name and persona, is still biologically male and could not marry another male. Ditto females.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Robertanthony]

Sterility (the inability to have children) is not an impediment to marriage. Impotence (the inability to have sexual intercourse) is an impediment to marriage. If a person knows with certainty that they are unable to have sex (either in general or with a particular partner) then they can not validly marry. The marital act is essential to the marriage. So a woman with no vagina or a man with no penis cannot marry validly. But a woman with no uterus or a man with no testicles can validly marry, because such persons are sill able to consummate the marriage.

Why is the consummation of marriage when procreation is absolutely ruled out sine qua non?

 

[GEddie]

Why is the consummation of marriage when procreation is absolutely ruled out sine qua non?

Because consummation is what marriage is all about!

It is the one thing that married couples are free to engage in; that is not available to persons in other human associations.

ICXC NIKA