Hello Foreigner,
I'm a Catholic, and my Church teaches that anal sex, oral sex, masturbation, and even oral contraception and other birth control methods are all wrong even for married couples. God's first commandment in Genesis was to procreate. Anal sex, oral sex, masturbation, and oral contraception and other birth control methods prevents the procreation of human beings, which goes against God's first commandment in Genesis; therefore, my Church stands against all of these.
We believe that children are gifts from God. A spouse who has a medical problem and cannnot conceive children is usually not known until after marriage. The Church is not against such marriage because the Church believes that only God can perform miracles such as in the case of Sarah.
In Christ,
Selene
-- I was born and raised Catholic and understand where you are coming from. I would let you know that in the Christian community - even among Penticostals - a number of these stances by the Catholic church are not seen as Gospel. Song of Solomon would tend to agree with that. The enjoyment of your spouse for enjoyment sake is a gift from God. Sex within a marraige is NOT just for procreation.
Delight in your spouse's body is in and of itself a gift from God. As far as contraception, that is an assumption the Catholic church has made that is not supported or refuted by scripture.
When I was young the Catholic church had taught that the "missionary position" was the only acceptable position for sex between a man and a woman. Again, there was nothing scripturally to support that.
If a married couple finds that the woman is likely to have extreme, possibly life-threatening side effects if she gets pregnant, you make it sound as if the Catholic church's one and only solution is abstinence.
I highly doubt God would mean for this couple in their 20s to spend the next few decades not having sex. Other than contraception or a surgery for one or the other to prevent the chance of pregnancy, what other options would they have?
I know a couple where the wife is bipolar and the Dr. has determined that the medications she requires could cause birth defects in the child and/or early termination of pregnancy through complications.
In order for her to become pregnant they would have to either risk health issues to the child by having the mother not go off medication, risk to the mother by having her go off medication, or not to have children. And as a bonus you seem to be saying that the Catholic church feels that should mean not having sex.
As far as anal sex, oral sex, masturbation within marraige, I see them as a gray area. Mutual masturbation between husband and wife strikes me as an accepted activity, but masturbation in and of it self as a solo activity, I wouldn't think would be okay. Oral sex within marraige is, in my opinion, an accepted practice.
As far as anal sex goes, I do not know. I have heard the argument made that since the married couples are in a heterosexual monogamous relationship, the chance of contracting a disease or spreading it to others is nil so this can be seen as part of delighting in your lover's body.
But that gets to the question that gays have asked. Why is it wrong for gays to have anal sex but not a heterosexual married couple? I don't think giving the Catholic position on sex only being for procreation is going to fly with them. It doesn't fly with the majority of Christians, either.
Is it still the official stance of the Catholic church that sex between married people for reasons other than procreation is forbidden?