Marriage, Sexual Relationships and Family
Marriage as a Sacrament
Marriage occupies a central place in Catholic life. For Catholics, marriage is not simply a social or legal arrangement — it is a sacrament of marriage, one of the seven sacraments through which God’s grace is communicated. The couple are themselves the ministers of the sacrament — they confer it on each other through their freely given, permanent vows, witnessed by the priest and community. The Catechism of the Catholic Church 2360–2365 sets out the essential properties of marriage: unity (one husband, one wife), indissolubility (lifelong commitment) and openness to procreation.
Pope Francis addressed the meaning of marriage in his speech “Not Just Good But Beautiful” at the Humanum Conference in November 2014. He described marriage as a “beautiful” vocation that reflects the covenant between Christ and the Church, and lamented that contemporary culture has reduced marriage to a transient arrangement rather than a total gift of self. For Catholics, the permanence of the marriage vow — “what God has joined together, let no one separate” — is a reflection of the faithful, unconditional love of God himself.
Pope Francis’s address “Not Just Good But Beautiful” was given at the Humanum Conference in November 2014. It presents Catholic marriage as beautiful because it reflects Christ’s covenant with the Church — total, permanent and fruitful. It is one of the Edexcel-named sources for Catholic teaching on marriage.
Sexual Relationships: Marital, Unitive and Procreative
Catholic teaching holds that sexual relationships are only appropriate within marriage. The Catechism (CCC 2360–2365) identifies three essential dimensions of marital sexuality. First, sex is marital — confined to the marriage relationship. Second, it is unitive — it deepens and expresses the loving bond between spouses, strengthening the covenant. Third, it is procreative — it must remain open to new life. Catholic teaching insists that the unitive and procreative dimensions cannot be artificially separated. To remove the procreative dimension deliberately (as artificial contraception does) is to violate the full meaning of the sexual act.
On same-sex relationships, the Catechism teaches that while individuals with same-sex attraction deserve respect and compassion, same-sex sexual activity does not correspond to the marital vocation as the Church understands it. This is one of the most debated areas of Catholic ethics in contemporary society, with divergent views within Christianity: some Protestant denominations now conduct same-sex marriages, and the Church of England allows clergy to bless same-sex couples while still teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman, reflecting different interpretations of scripture and tradition. Catholics are called to treat everyone with dignity while maintaining the teaching on marriage.
Many Protestant churches and some Anglican denominations accept sexual relationships outside marriage and same-sex partnerships, arguing that love and commitment are the core Christian values rather than the legal form. Non-religious (Humanist and atheist) views generally hold that consensual sexual relationships between adults are morally acceptable regardless of marital status, and that human wellbeing and equality are the key ethical tests. The Catholic Church responds that its teaching is grounded in natural law (the purpose of sex as written into human nature) and in scripture, not merely in social convention, and that redefining marriage or sexuality ultimately harms human flourishing even if it appears liberating in the short term.
The Purpose and Importance of Family
For Catholics, the family is “the domestic church” — the first place where faith is lived and passed on. The primary purposes of marriage include procreation and the education of children in the faith. Familiaris Consortio (Pope John Paul II, 1981), sections 36–85, provides the most detailed modern Catholic teaching on the family. It describes the family as the “first and vital cell of society” and outlines four specific tasks: forming a community of persons, serving life, participating in the development of society, and sharing in the life and mission of the Church.
Catholics do not ignore the reality of diverse family structures in 21st-century society. The Church recognises that families today include nuclear, single-parent, same-sex parent, extended, and blended families. The Catholic response is pastoral rather than condemnatory — families who do not match the ideal are still offered the full support of the Church community, while the Church maintains its teaching about the ideal of marriage between a man and a woman.
Familiaris Consortio was written by Pope John Paul II in 1981. It describes the family as the “first and vital cell of society” and the “domestic church.” It gives four tasks of the family: community of persons, serving life, developing society, and sharing in the Church’s mission. Sections 36–85 cover the family directly.
Support from the Local Parish: Family Group Movement
The local Catholic parish supports families through family worship, sacramental preparation, parents’ classes, children’s groups and counselling. One concrete example the spec names is the Family Group Movement, founded in France in 1947. Small groups of families meet regularly for prayer, discussion and practical support, creating a community in which faith can be shared and family life strengthened. The Catechism 2226 also teaches that education in the faith should begin in a child’s earliest years, and that the parish is a privileged place for the catechesis of children and parents — the parish supports parents in that primary vocation, it does not replace it.
Cohabitation (living together as an unmarried couple) is viewed negatively in official Catholic teaching, because the permanence and public commitment of marriage are seen as essential to the full meaning of the sexual relationship. Many non-religious people and some Protestants regard cohabitation as a reasonable way to test compatibility before marriage, and argue that committed relationships have the same moral value whether legally formalised or not. The Catholic Church responds that the absence of a binding commitment changes the nature of the relationship and undermines the conditions for genuine self-gift. It nevertheless recognises that pastoral sensitivity is required when working with cohabiting couples who may be seeking to grow closer to the Church.