COITUS RELATIONSHIP

Coitus [L, from pp of coire, to come

together]:SEXUAL INTERCOURSE

- In coitus relationship,the couples expression of

their sexuality involves the meeting of male and
female genitals

- Marriage as the context in which sexuality finds

its adequate expression and full significance
 Why Sex only in the context of marriage?

HOLY SCRIPTURE
- gravely prohibits
1)Premarital
OT • Dt 22:13-21
Girl found to be non-virgin is put to death for having done a
crime in Israel – by stoning.
NT • 2 Cor 12:21; Gal 5:19; Eph 5:3-5; Col 3:5;
Rev 9:21
Argued as under the term porneia. In the list of vices
porneia regularly appears among the denounced sins.
 2) Extramarital
OT • Ex 20:14; 20:17
Encoding in the Decalogue prohibition against committing
this sin.
• Lev 20:10; 22:22
Death for both man and woman involved
NT • Mt 5:27-32
Emphasizes prohibition against adultery even by only
looking with lust.
• 1 Cor 6:9
For St. Paul, it is one of the sins which excludes one from
the kingdom of God.
• Heb 13:4
“Marriage is to be honored by all, and marriage are to be
keep undefiled, because fornicators and adulterers will come
under God’s judgment”.
 3) Prostitution
OT • Lev 19:29; Jer 5:7
Grave prohibition and treat of destruction.In OT it is a
sexual immorality, be this profane or sacred prostitution.
NT • Mt 19:9; Jm 4:4; Rev 14:4; 17:1-7
It seems that Christians fairly understood the prohibition
as not to mention it directly as it is, rather, was applied with
respect to faithlessness, and idolatry.

* In the Holy Scripture, therefore, sexual relation is limited

and proper only within marriage. Paul knowing well this fact,
counsels married couples to have their self solely for the partner.
In addition, if a widow is tortured of having no partner in bed, are
admonished to marry again. (1 Cor 7:1-9)
FROM THE CHURCH’S TRADITION
- still in line with scriptures
- now, prostitution was understood as to denote not only prostitution
but more on sexual intercourse between unmarried persons.

• St. Ambrose - warns against even a look with lust as not to commit
adultery in one’s heart.
• St Augustine -understands that the creator requires human beings
to abstain from all extramarital intercourse.
• In the Middle Ages – grave penances are imposed for intercourse
between unmarried persons.
• St Thomas Aquinas – find wrong and against the purpose of sexual
activity to perform the act by which offspring are generated except
in marriage.

* St. Thomas position held prominence with respect to marriage.

Church’s tradition is characterized by his position.
TODAY’S PERCEPTION OF COITUS RELATIONSHIP

- Influenced by modern sciences

• of philosophy ------------- relativism/subjectivism
• of applied sciences -------scientism

- confused understanding of sex + bombardment of mass media

• See ---------------------------- ‘sexual revolution’

“ social revolution as an offshoot of the so-called ‘sociologism’ and
‘psychologism’ has swept everything in he name of ‘taboos’, from
habits and social conventions, and from the repressions of pleasure ”
• Sex is often portrayed as a commodity to be bought and sold, as a
biological means of procuring pleasure, and as a private concern of
the individuals concerned.
• [mental climate/modes of thought shape by inordinate valuing of
technology and its comfort and advantages]
- disposes/treat human being as an object rather than as a
subject, if not simply as merely a more highly developed animal.
Such an attitude is fostered by the many kinds of positivism and
naturalism, especially when allied to materialism and atheism.

Consequences:
- sex is not connected, unrelated, separate from marriage
- sex is subjective and pleasure oriented
SEX IN THE CONTEXT OF MARRIAGE
- focuses on the morality and proper motivation of intercourse

Reasons of doing sexual intercourse

1) Procreation – openness to generation of offspring

2) Union – mutual love of the couple and deepening of this love

3) Pleasure – for relaxation and enjoyment

 Pre-Vatican II…
-made no connection between procreative and unitive aspect
of sex
-visible struggle is between pleasure and procreation
St. Augustine – affirms the necessity of sex for the generation of children. Intercourse
outside marriage, as also any intercourse which is not in harmony with the
‘goods of marriage’(offspring, fidelity, and sacramentum) is disordered and
sinful.

Middle Ages – the purpose of intercourse is performed purely for the generation of
children. Doing it for the sake of pleasure is sinful

St. Thomas – unless it is motivated by the purpose of procreation, or performed in

response to the demand of one’s married partner, then at least venial sin is
involved. Pleasure as he sees it is good if it is connected with an activity that
is itself good… for he considered pleasure as the proper overflow of natural
and virtuous actions… though not the proper goal of the activity.
Late Medieval and Early Modern Periods - theologians recognize three distinct but
interrelated motives for marital intercourse, namely: procreation,
avoidance of fornication, and pleasure. However, pleasure should not be
sole reason willed by the agent.
14th century (Peter of Palude and St. Bernardine) – admitted the legitimacy of
marital intercourse as an alternative to fornication, even when there was no
possibility of conceiving children.
Jansenism – revival of rigorist interpretation of Augustinian position. Jansenism
reserve little room for purity of intention. They held that in practice, “seem
that few if any acts were characterized by such purity of intentions”.
St. Alphonsus Ligouri – espousing a moderate position rejected the Augustinian
notion that marital intercourse is always a sin and permitted motives for
intercourse other than procreation, provided that procreation is not
excluded.

*Sexual intercourse solely for pleasure had generally been condemned, the main
disagreement being whether it was a mortal or venial sin.

* The Church always try to moderate perception on sexual intercourse. She scales
down rigorist idea and sanction laxity.
Procreation and Mutual love…
- In the Scriptures (esp. in the 2nd creation account), no attempt is made to bring
together the unitive and procreative aspects of sex; both aspects are known in
the Bible, but no explicit concern to correlate them appears.

- At least since Aquinas, some theologians had spoken of love and friendship as
appropriate to marriage.

- The Council of Trent spoke highly of marital love, however, made no

connection between marital and sexual intercourse.

- During the nineteenth century a few theologians also began to speak of conjugal
love within the context of sexual intercourse, the expression of which might be
legitimate motive for such intercourse. However, it gained no acceptance.

- In 1930, Herbert Doms objected against procreation as the only primary end .
He introduced two ends that he said are equally primary. That other end is the
mutual completion and perfection of the spouses on every level.
 Vatican II and onward…
GS 47-52
“…the human by which the partners mutually surrender themselves to each other;
for the good of the partners,of the children…”
“… Married love… can enrich the sentiments of the spirits and the physical
expression with the unique dignity ennoble them as the special elements and
signs of the friendship proper to marriage…”
“… Married love is uniquely expressed and perfected by the exercise of the acts
proper to marriage”.
- Sex and marriage are essentially ordered towards procreation
- The Church believes in two-fold God-given purpose: expression of true mutual
love between the spouses and for the generation of children.
Carol Wojtyla – The whole raison d‘ etre of the sexual union of the spouses is to
express and enact their total and mutual self-donation to each other. The mutual
self-giving expressed in sexual intercourse must accept all that their masculinity
and feminity entail, inclusive of the possibility of bringing about a new human
being.
Today’s understanding of coitus in the context of marriage

TENSIONS:
• Magisterial Teaching versus Public Dissent

• The “Integralist” versus The “Separatist”

• Classicist/Puritans versus Modern understanding

• Scholastic Terms vs. Modern sciences understanding of the term

 MAGISTERIAL TEACHING vs PUBLIC DISSENT

-Genital sexuality can be fully What’s wrong if one loves and

expressed only within the context commits her/his self to someone
of an indissoluble and permanent he/she intimately knows and
marriage of male and female and having erotic attraction?; Why
every sexual act must be open to the Church is so paternalistic,
procreation and expressive love when in fact we only go around
union. with people we seriously know,
-However there is an unavoidable thereby, not to worry about
preference/emphasis on the Aids, herpes and other venereal
procreative aspect diseases?; and What if we have
- Vatican II stated that sex and sex, enjoy it, and discover it
marriage are essentially ordered makes us love each other all the
towards procreation more?
- emphasizes more on the
unitive/love aspect of sex and
marriage
 Integralists vs. Separatists
• Sexuality is integral to the • Sexuality as relational
human person • Regards procreation (their term is
• Holds that both the person reproduction) as biological function of
uniting, love-giving, unitive sexuality.
dimension of human sexuality • While, the person-uniting, love-giving,
and its life-giving, procreative relational dimension as its truly human
dimension are of human and personal aspect because it is that
significance. which is consciously willed and
• The unitive and procreative chosen.
dimensions of human sexuality • The human and personal value of sex
are complementarily present in is its relational purposes, in its ability
the male and female and are to help people escape from the prison
actualized in their intimate of loneliness and to enter into
unity in one flesh. meaningful responsible relationships
• Sees the goods of the person not with significant other and, in so doing,
the good for the person. to enjoy themselves and find
refreshment and ecstasy.
Classicist/Puritans vs. Modern understanding

• Pleasure is sinful : • Pleasure is not sinful: God

connected to the original gives/implant this in our
sin sexuality, provided was
received as consequent of
the higher end.
Scholastic couched terms vs. Modern sciences understanding

Person – [isness, suppositom] Person – [functional, relational]

Nature - [actuated essence] Nature – [the visible environ,

dominant pattern of behavior]
Natural Law - [objective norm
deciphered by reason found within Natural Law [law in nature]
man]
Substance [visible, quantifiable]
Substance - [lies beneath, supports
accidents, invisible, not yet
quantified]
• Original meaning of the term…
eros [Platonic] – the call or impulse to what is true, good,
and beautiful, ot to real values

autonomy [Kantian] – capacity to follow the moral law

 Sex as a language expressing love
Sex is a language of the human body. It is a way of expressing love. The value of sex is in
the communication of the said love. The caress, exchanges of romantic words, and coital
activity in the sexual act is the outpouring expression of the love a person want to donate
and abandon to the partner.
Sex makes love more vivid and real. It can turn tears into laughter, anger into tenderness,
withdrawal into a generous gift of self. It makes people want to continuously be given. It
also encourages couple to keep trying. In the moments of misunderstanding, it helps
bridge the gap until communication restored. It is a meeting of bodies to bring about the
meeting of minds[1].
As a language, sex expresses more that what the flesh can give. It is foremost an expression
of the soul realized through the body. It expresses the intention to love and be love, and
be in one with the end-purpose of the act itself. Sex as expression of love is a “language
of total gift, a lifelong commitment, a language of spousal love”[2].

[1] David Knight, The Good News About Sex (Manila: St. Paul’s Publications Philippines, 1990), 22-23.

[2] Ibid.,144.
CONCLUSION

• After considering all, from the historical and analytic evaluation, the
reporter reaffirms the reality of sex as good. However, the full
flowering of sex must be realize within the context of marriage and
expression of the intimate love between married couples.
• The meaning of every sex lies in the rediscovery of the underlying
giftedness exemplified by the procreative and unitive aspects that are
intrinsic to man.The pleasure it brings is good, also. Pleasure is
implanted by the very Creator of sexuality himself – God
• The attitude with respect to coitus relationship should be wholistic and
Christian. One should not treat it like object or thing leading to the
devaluing of its meaning.
 For Pastoral Considerations

• Pastors should present themselves as compassionate fellow

strugglers, striving just as they are to live up to Christian
sexual ideals which they too finds difficult.
• Pastors must address and be immerse in a wholistic
education of his flock on human sexuality
• Emphasize the sacredness of coition as designed by God.
• Empowering of parent as first educator to their kids about
sexuality.