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So what exactly is chastity, and isn’t that just for single people? We talk about chastity’s role in and out of marriage. This podcast is courtesy of Sirius 159/XM 117 (The Catholic Channel). You can get a full three hours of The Catholics Next Door, Monday through Friday from 10AM to 1PM EST, only from Sirius/XM. Sign up today!
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Good program, and an important discussion. Without divulging the contents of your confessions, I would have liked to understand where your disagreements were about the concept of marital chastity.
Regarding the gentleman who was given the “green light” for his wife to have her tubes tied, I think the priest in question gave them bad advise. His clarifications only reiterated that complications in future pregnancies could be life-threatening, but he made it pretty clear that the intent was direct sterilization. The end here was good (to save her life) but the means were wrong, and the end does not justify the means.
Unfortunately one doesn’t have to look very far to find priest who are willing to ignore church teaching in an attempt to be pastoral. I know of some priest to whom I cannot go for confession because I know that they are going to tell me that certain objectively immoral acts are not really sins.
If this couple was ignorant of the teachings as you read them, that direct sterilization with the intent of preventing pregnancy is a sin, their culpability may be diminished. (The priest on the other hand — I really hope he repents of this before his judgement day!) This couple probably should go to confession to another priest to obtain absolution of this sin, but would not be under obligation to try to have the surgery reversed.