The Unchangeable Ends of Marriage

The Second Vatican Council’s legitimate development of doctrine on marriage is often misrepresented as if something new was introduced to Catholic teaching.  Indeed, the language of the last century surrounding Catholic sexual teaching illustrates a deep-seated misunderstanding of what the Council actually taught: NFP is sometimes presented as the Catholic version of birth control.  Annulments are considered the Catholic version of Divorce.  Even deviant sexual practices within the confines of marriage are sometimes defended as being open to the unitive end of marriage, and so still justified.  For traditional minded Catholics, it can sometimes be tempting to blame all of these errors on JPII and the Second Vatican Council; in fact, some even go so far as to actually believe all these errors were precisely what JPII and the Council taught.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Rather than be watered down and more permissive, Catholic teaching on Marriage as taught by JPII is elevated, clarified, and comprehensive - both as a Sacrament and as a natural union.

The Church has taught, and has always taught, that there are three ends to Marriage: procreation, mutual aid of the spouses, and the remittance of concupiscence.  There is an important reason for the way these ends are always presented, both in that order and always together.  Procreation is always listed first, because “the primary end of marriage is the procreation and the education of children (Casti Connubi, 17).”  It is the base minimum end which every marital act must be oriented towards.  It is only when this primary end is observed and fulfilled that the other two ends are possible.

Man as a species is not called to blind reproduction, however.  There is something even more fundamental to his existence than either fulfilling his sexual urge or bringing offspring into the world.  Since God created Man in His own Image, and since Man is furthermore a being who remains lost to himself if he is not encountered by another, “God inscribed in the humanity of man and woman the vocation, and thus the capacity and responsibility, of love and communion (Familiaris Consortio, 11).”  Man’s first need, in order to be fully himself, is love and communion.  He needs to both give and receive fully from himself.

Human personhood and its integral link to the body (as opposed to the Cartesian equating personhood with mental activity) is the central theme of JPII’s pontificate and writings.  Love and self gift is primarily a personable action.  Animals with every kind of soul can procreate; only animals who are persons can enter into a communio, can have love, or can give themselves fully to another person.  But, giving fully of oneself includes every aspect of the body.  I can only fully give myself if I am including as part of this gift my full fertility.  Furthermore, this gift then extends not only to my spouse but to my children who also directly (though not necessarily intentionally) receive my gift of myself.  Thus, personhood is the prerequisite for married love, and is the only context in which procreation can be considered the primary end of marriage.

Pope Saint John Paul II is sometimes accused of changing the Church’s teachings on the hierarchy of the ends of marriage.  Well-intentioned individuals read his works and conclude that he is elevating the unitive end of marriage to the same level as the procreative end.  This in fact is an erroneous understanding of what JPII is doing.  Rather than erasing the hierarchy of ends, JPII is emphasizing this hierarchy - by recognizing that the ends of marriage are intricately linked.  Through marriage properly entered into, Man not only fulfills his primal need for survival (better chance at survival with another person).  He also fulfills his need to procreate (use his body according to its functions).  He also fulfills his need for community, and for love.  But, this tri-partite fulfillment of Man’s nature is only completed when he observes the most basic moral dictate of the marital act: remaining open to life (or, said another way, give and receive with the totality of your being).