Extended Availability for Catholic Marriage and Intimacy Coaching
We're thrilled to announce that our Catholic marriage and intimacy coaching services, led by James Walther, are now available with extended hours to better serve our clients! We're implementing these extended hours as a trial run until at least March 15, 2024. Whether you're a busy professional or a parent with limited free time, we aim to accommodate your schedule.
Masturbation in Marriage
Masturbation is per se (i.e., in and of itself) gravely sinful. This means that it is always sinful, including in marriage. Since we started Catholic Intimacy, many people have contacted me to ask whether one or another act was masturbatory or if masturbation would be allowed in x, y, or z situations. So, hopefully, if you are here with a question like that, this article will clarify things.
What Do I Have to Offer?
Here’s the big question: what do you have to offer? In other words, why should anyone want to commit themselves to you exclusively for life? That’s a million-dollar question.
Everyone has a type, i.e., certain characteristics that they find attractive. We all know (or knew) what characteristics we are (were) looking for in our spouse. We tend to have pretty lofty ideals. But let’s flip that around. If our future spouse is as magnificent as we imagine, then should we not expect that they too have high standards for who they want to be with? Do we meet the criteria of someone that meets our criteria?
Getting Frisky: Incomplete Sexual Acts
From a Reader: Please help us in clarifying a long standing confusion. Is it sinful for spouses to orally and manually stimulate each other’s genitals while abstaining from full marital union?
Expanding Our Horizons: Introducing Online Catholic Intimacy Coaching
In light of these evolving needs, we're excited to share with you and get your feedback on a project – the introduction of online Catholic Intimacy Coaching.
First and foremost, it's important to clarify that intimacy coaching is a form of personal coaching or counseling that focuses on helping individuals or couples improve their emotional, physical, and psychological intimacy in relationships.
Response: Stripper Fantasy?
From a reader: Is it a sin to have a fantasy of my wife as a stripper? Is it sinful for my wife to strip for me with the end being intercourse?
Sexual Intimacy for the Elderly
Sexual intimacy is a beautiful and meaningful aspect of life that transcends age. For the elderly, engaging in sexual intimacy can bring a renewed sense of closeness and connection with their spouse. While physical changes may occur with age, such as decreased libido or physical limitations, emotional intimacy remains a vital source of intimacy for the elderly. It is important to acknowledge and address any concerns or challenges related to sexual intimacy in this stage of life, seeking professional guidance if necessary. With open communication, patience, and understanding, couples can find ways to continue nurturing their bond through sexual intimacy, ensuring that their love and connection remain strong and fulfilling throughout their golden years.
Can Catholics Have Sex During the Wife’s Menstrual Period?
Historically, it was believed that children conceived during the menstrual period were usually, if not always, afflicted with blindness, lameness, leprosy, etc. Saint Thomas Aquinas writes that this ban was in place, not only for the ceremonial reason, but also because of the harm that would befall the children conceived.
Addressing Conflict in Marriage
The good news is that when you practice healthy conflict, you can have healthy conflict and these patterns of behavior don’t have to continue or define your relationship.
Is Sex During Lent Sinful?
Right before Lent, both Megan and I noticed a little buzz in various Catholic Facebook groups about whether or not Catholics are allowed to have sex during Lent, on feast days, or fast days. It seems that most married couples understand that there are currently no formal Church disciplines concerning this matter, but some did seem sincerely confused as to the current practice.
Pius XI on the Greatness of Marriage
How great a boon of God this is, and how great a blessing of matrimony is clear from a consideration of man's dignity and of his sublime end. For man surpasses all other visible creatures by the superiority of his rational nature alone.
Heightening Your Senses: Introducing Blindfolds to the Bedroom
Have you ever noticed how when you cannot see all of your other senses seem heightened? Our brains can only process so much input, so they are forced to selectively prioritize sensations. By removing input from one sense, we allow others to take center stage. Think about enjoying the first sip of a fine wine or first bite of exquisite chocolate. We often instinctively close our eyes and focus our attention on our sense of taste.
Vatican II on Marriage and the Family
Through this union they experience the meaning of their oneness and attain to it with growing perfection day by day. As a mutual gift of two persons, this intimate union and the good of the children impose total fidelity on the spouses and argue for an unbreakable oneness between them.
Pius XII on Pleasure
The same Creator, Who in His bounty and wisdom willed to make use of the work of man and woman, by uniting them in matrimony, for the preservation and propagation of the human race, has also decreed that in this function the parties should experience pleasure and happiness of body and spirit. Husband and wife, therefore, by seeking and enjoying this pleasure do no wrong whatever. They accept what the Creator has destined for them.
Exodus 90: A Reset
Exodus 90 is a 90-day spiritual exercise for men. It was created to call men out of slavery and to God. The three pillars of Exodus 90 are prayer, asceticism, and fraternity. It seems that if you mention Exodus 90 in a crowd of Catholic men, they all know it as that program where you can't drink and you have to take cold showers. Yep, that's the one!
Sexy Body, Sexy Mind
There are two types of people in the world. One who experiences desire by seeing a hot bod and getting turned on, and the other who has to have a mental connection to be turned on.
Other Than the Ideal: Obstacles to Marital Intimacy
While this online forum is not intended to meet every need for everybody, it is intended to be a safe space that provides some resources for those who need it.
Stress and Intimacy: A Christmas Cocktail
Christmas is one of the most joyful times of the year. It is one of the most important liturgical seasons, being that in which we celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord. It can also be one of the most stressful times of the year. Now stress on a marriage can be in two forms: internal and external. Internal stresses are those between the couple themselves, while external are all those arising from children, family, friends, work, etc. These stresses are innumerable and come in varying degrees.
Festal Roses: The Marital State and Sanctity
As Catholics, every moment of our day, every part of our lives should be imbued with our Faith. There is never an inappropriate time to think of pious and holy things. Every room in our homes should have a crucifix and pious images. We should live ever in the presence of God and His Blessed Mother. Nor is there ever an inappropriate time to pray. The greatest saints live in a sort of constant state of prayer, known as the unitive way.
Awaiting the Immaculate Conception: Tears before the Feast
Pius tradition tells us that Mary’s parents, Saints Joachim and Anna, were elderly and had been struck with infertility. I say struck because infertility was seen in the Old Covenant as a mark of God’s displeasure. As is always the case, the Cross must be carried before the glory of the Resurrection. The greater the cross, the greater the glory. As with Sarah, Hannah, the parents of Saint John the Baptist and others, this was not a punishment. Rather, God was asking them to carry a great cross for a long time, holding on to hope.