Why does every sex act have to be procreative, but not unitive?

[Em_in_FL]

As I have pointed out on the other thread, being fruitful and multiplying can have little to do with contraception. If there are just reasons to avoid children, the couple is then not required, for that time, to be frutiful and multiply.

A couple that uses contraception to avoid children with just reasons are not guilty of the sin of not being “fruitful and multiplying.” Their guilt is merely in using illicit means to do so.

It really is a complicated issue.

Oh I agree…
I was responding to the simplicity of the teachings of the church… “be fruitful and multiply”… and, “be chaste in marriage” (the other half of what I wrote above)…

Contraception is a sin against chastity in marriage…

 

[mommamaree]

As I have pointed out on the other thread, being fruitful and multiplying can have little to do with contraception. If there are just reasons to avoid children, the couple is then not required, for that time, to be frutiful and multiply.

A couple that uses contraception to avoid children with just reasons are not guilty of the sin of not being “fruitful and multiplying.” Their guilt is merely in using illicit means to do so.

It really is a complicated issue.

That is a good distinction to remember, because as the Church teaches, the intention to avoid pregnancy for a time or even for the rest of married life is not sinful when chosen for just reasons. It is a matter of the means used that determines whether or not it is a sin. Periodic abstinence or total abstinence is acceptable. Contraception is not.