What is the purpose of sex during natural family planning?

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What is the purpose of sex when couples are going through with natural family planning?

Just to say a bit more in anticipation:

It seems to me that, since couples who have sex during NFP are not expecting to conceive, the purpose of sex in these cases is for union alone. Or bonding. Or pleasure. Replace “pleasure,” “union,” or “bonding” with whatever terms you’d like in order to make them more or less spiritual or meaningful, but ultimately, it seems that sex can be endured without a procreative purpose but a unitive one only. Wouldn’t this open the spectrum of sexual acts to others that are not purely meant for ***both ***“procreation” and “union”?
 
The same as it is when they’re not.

(Though sometimes NFP is used to increase chances of conception, too. The charting is just gathering information. The sex act doesn’t change based on the information gathered, just its timing (maybe). Couples come together for the same reasons they always do.)
 
pensmama87 said:
The same as it is when they’re not.

(Though sometimes NFP is used to increase chances of conception, too. The charting is just gathering information. The sex act doesn’t change based on the information gathered, just its timing (maybe). Couples come together for the same reasons they always do.)
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But in Catholic eyes, sex is for procreation primarily and union of the spouses. That is why direct disruption of either is wrong.

But in NFP, couples are not coming together for procreation.
 
catholic1seeks said:
But in Catholic eyes, sex is for procreation primarily and union of the spouses. That is why direct disruption of either is wrong.

But in NFP, couples are not coming together for procreation.
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That is false. NFP doesn’t disrupt anything.

A couple can not be using NFP and still not be trying to conceive. A couple may abstain for reasons other than desiring to avoid conception at this time.

Is there a required frequency for couples to engage in relations so they’re not “disrupting” the purpose of intimacy?
 
catholic1seeks said:
But in Catholic eyes, sex is for procreation primarily and union of the spouses.
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Yes.
That is why direct disruption of either is wrong.
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Disruption is wrong but that’s not why it’s wrong. The marital act, in Church teaching, must always be both unitive and **ordered to procreation. ** Contraceptive sex is not ordered to procreation. Sex during infertile times is still ordered toward procreation.
But in NFP, couples are not coming together for procreation.
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So? Neither is any married couple who has sex on an infertile day whether they are planning on postponing pregnancy or not.

You are confusing the purpose of sex within an marriage and the proper enjoyment of the marital act.
 
This is in reply to the various responses so far:

I am asking about why couples have sex (“the purpose” of sex) during NFP if they are not intending on having a child, yet sex is supposed to be “ordered to procreation” and unitive.

I understand that the physical act itself would still be open to having a child. It is possible for a couple using NFP to have a child. In this sense they are still “ordered to procreation.” But I hope my confusion and question are clearer. When couples go to bed together during NFP, they do not strictly want a child. Their purpose is not the procreative end.

So if a couple can approach sex with the desire to have sex for the unitive purpose only (even if open to procreate), then why cannot this be the alone purpose at any or all times?
 
The “desire” is not unitive purpose only. The desire is God’s will which if God desires can create a new human life.
 
catholic1seeks said:
When couples go to bed together during NFP, they do not strictly want a child.
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This is the situation for most married couples whether or not they are using NFP. A couple does not have to be actively trying to conceive every time they have sex.
 
catholic1seeks said:
This is in reply to the various responses so far:

I am asking about why couples have sex (“the purpose” of sex) during NFP if they are not intending on having a child, yet sex is supposed to be “ordered to procreation” and unitive.

I understand that the physical act itself would still be open to having a child. It is possible for a couple using NFP to have a child. In this sense they are still “ordered to procreation.” But I hope my confusion and question are clearer. When couples go to bed together during NFP, they do not strictly want a child. Their purpose is not the procreative end.

So if a couple can approach sex with the desire to have sex for the unitive purpose only (even if open to procreate), then why cannot this be the alone purpose at any or all times?
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Because intent is not the sole arbiter of morality.

It appears the you have missed something contained in this selection from the CCC.
2369 "By safeguarding both these essential aspects, the unitive and the procreative, the conjugal act preserves in its fullness the sense of true mutual love and its orientation toward man’s exalted vocation to parenthood."157

2370 Periodic continence, that is, the methods of birth regulation based on self-observation and the use of infertile periods, is in conformity with the objective criteria of morality.158 These methods respect the bodies of the spouses, encourage tenderness between them, and favor the education of an authentic freedom. In contrast, “every action which, whether in anticipation of the conjugal act, or in its accomplishment, or in the development of its natural consequences, proposes, whether as an end or as a means, to render procreation impossible” is intrinsically evil:159
Thus the innate language that expresses the total reciprocal self-giving of husband and wife is overlaid, through contraception, by an objectively contradictory language, namely, that of not giving oneself totally to the other. This leads not only to a positive refusal to be open to life but also to a falsification of the inner truth of conjugal love, which is called upon to give itself in personal totality. . . . The difference, both anthropological and moral, between contraception and recourse to the rhythm of the cycle . . . involves in the final analysis two irreconcilable concepts of the human person and of human sexuality.160
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LittleFlower378 said:
The “desire” is not unitive purpose only. The desire is God’s will which if God desires can create a new human life.
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So “we desire to have sex because it’s God’s will for us to have sex on NFP”

but it really causes me to ask the question: Why sex on NFP? What are they intending?
 
pensmama87 said:
This is the situation for most married couples whether or not they are using NFP. A couple does not have to be actively trying to conceive every time they have sex.
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So then a couple can just approach sex wanting to unite and not procreate.
 
They, although they may have serious reason to postpone pregnancy, still leave it up to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has the final say.
 
davidv said:
Because intent is not the sole arbiter of morality.

It appears the you have missed something contained in this selection from the CCC.
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It just seems like people who use NFP want a way to have sex without getting pregnant.

I mean, obviously that is what NFP is supposed to help do.

But it seems like it flies in the face of what sex is supposed to be for in Catholic thought. A couple is basically saying “we want the pleasure” (bonding, union, etc…) but not the baby. Saying a couple would be open doesn’t change this. They still don’t want or intend the baby.
 
Being open to life means that they are open to the Holy Spirits giving action. So a couple may have grave reason to postpone, will still be open and not say, “we want the pleasure but not the baby.”
 
catholic1seeks said:
It just seems like people who use NFP want a way to have sex without getting pregnant.

I mean, obviously that is what NFP is supposed to help do.

But it seems like it flies in the face of what sex is supposed to be for in Catholic thought. A couple is basically saying “we want the pleasure” (bonding, union, etc…) but not the baby. Saying a couple would be open doesn’t change this. They still don’t want or intend the baby.
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Let me flip this on you.

So, if a couple knows they cannot conceive, either temporarily (pregnancy, breastfeeding-induced infertility) or permanently (menopause, medically necessary surgery with the side effect of sterility)…is it immoral for them to engage in sexual relations?

(Hint: Does the Church marry infertile couples?)

ETA: So, since we can use NFP to determine a woman’s fertile times, are we all obligated to use NFP and ONLY have sex when conception is likely? Is there a frequency with which married couples should be expected to engage in relations? I asked you this before and you did not answer.
 
catholic1seeks said:
What is the purpose of sex when couples are going through with natural family planning?

Just to say a bit more in anticipation:

It seems to me that, since couples who have sex during NFP are not expecting to conceive, the purpose of sex in these cases is for union alone. Or bonding. Or pleasure. Replace “pleasure,” “union,” or “bonding” with whatever terms you’d like in order to make them more or less spiritual or meaningful, but ultimately, it seems that sex can be endured without a procreative purpose but a unitive one only. Wouldn’t this open the spectrum of sexual acts to others that are not purely meant for ***both ***“procreation” and “union”?
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They aren’t expecting to conceive, but they are open to it. Also, there is a massive difference between “pleasure” and “union”. Those certainly aren’t interchangeable.
 
It reminds me of something: what about married people who are just too old to conceive?
 
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