When the Church speaks about sex in marriage, two words come up again and again: unitive and procreative. They can sound technical, but they describe something every married couple already senses. Intimacy brings you closer, and it is connected to the possibility of new life. This lesson explains what each meaning is, why the Church insists they belong together and what that looks like in an ordinary marriage.
Two goods in one act
The Catechism teaches that marriage has a twofold end: “the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life” (CCC 2363). It adds that these two meanings or values of marriage cannot be separated without altering the couple’s spiritual life and compromising the goods of marriage and the future of the family.
The unitive meaning is the bond of love. In the marital act, husband and wife give themselves to each other completely, and this gift strengthens their friendship, trust and tenderness. The procreative meaning is openness to life. The same act by which spouses express love is the act through which God may give them a child.
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Sources
- CCC 2363 Catechism of the Catholic Church, The twofold end of marriage
- CCC 2366-2370 Catechism of the Catholic Church, The fecundity of marriage and regulation of births
- CCC 2377 Catechism of the Catholic Church, Artificial techniques and the conjugal act
- Humanae Vitae 11-12 Humanae Vitae (Paul VI, 1968)
- Familiaris Consortio 32 Familiaris Consortio (John Paul II, 1981)