Why do Catholics view sex as essential to marriage?

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spunjalebi said:
That would also mean a couple or a spouse in a marriage who contracepts is not really married, correct?
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?? Could you explain your reasoning a little more? The Church teaches that once a marriage is validly contracted the couple are married. They can sin as much as they want to after that and it still won’t change the fact that they are validly married. Is there a particular reason you connected sinning through contraception with an invalid marriage?
 
spunjalebi said:
That would also mean a couple or a spouse in a marriage who contracepts is not really married, correct?
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Contraception or refusal to have children can be grounds for annulment. That said, the Church considers all marriages valid unless/until an annulment is granted.
 
MJJean said:
Contraception or refusal to have any children can be grounds for annulment, yes. That said, the Church considers all marriages valid unless/until an annulment is granted.
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Contraception is not grounds for annulment. Permanent use of contraception could be a sign that there was a positive refusal to accept children at the time the vows were made thus rendering the vows invalid, however that is not necessarily the case, and, even if it is, contracepting did not render the marriage invalid, the positive intent against accepting children would be what rendered the consent invalid. Sinning by using contraception cannot make a valid marriage invalid.
 
thewanderer said:
Contraception is not grounds for annulment. Permanent use of contraception could be a sign that there was a positive refusal to accept children at the time the vows were made thus rendering the vows invalid, however that is not necessarily the case, and, even if it is, contracepting did not render the marriage invalid, the positive intent against accepting children would be what rendered the consent invalid. Sinning by using contraception cannot make a valid marriage invalid.
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Well, yes. NOTHING can make a valid marriage invalid. But the use of contraception does say something about the understanding of marriage and intentions of at least one party. We agree, we’re just expressing it differently.
 
To help sum up a few points:
  1. Marriage is ordered towards the good of the spouses and the transmission of new life. This is why it is a requirement that sex (generally) be a part of the marriage. Sterility is not an impediment to marriage, because it is still possible that God could decide to bless the couple with children. (I once met a woman who had a fertility problem, and was married to a man with a low sperm count. After trying numerous options, they decided to give up on having a biological child and adopted. I met her at a prenatal clinic when she was 5 months pregnant - they had found out they were pregnant just when they were finalizing the arrangements to adopt their son. Consequently, she had a year-old adopted son and was pregnant with a second child.) It is only a requirement that they be open to new life.
  2. A desire NEVER to be open to having children can make a marriage invalid. Validity and invalidity of a marriage is based solely on what was occurring at the time of the marriage, not necessarily what happened afterward. (This is why infidelity is not grounds for a declaration of nullity, UNLESS it can be demonstrated that at the time of the wedding one or both parties intended not to be faithful.) While contraception is a grave sin (with the exception of NFP in some cases) it does not make a marriage invalid unless there is an attempt to NEVER be open to new life.
  3. If a couple has a grave reason to avoid a pregnancy (such as financial constraints, recent childbirth, illness, etc.) they may mutually agree to use natural family planning (NFP). This is the use of various scientific methods to determine the wife’s fertile periods, during which time they mutually agree to abstain from intercourse. Sex isn’t just for making babies, but by the same token, nothing artificial must be put in the way of being open to new life. If a couple has sex at a time when the wife is known to be infertile due to natural causes, there is no sin, because she is infertile by design (or a flaw, in the case of a woman who is clinically infertile due to a medical condition). The intent is not for them not to be open to life; it is just that, due to a natural state, conception would not normally be possible.
 
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