Pope Catholic Masturbation

I was watching Bill Maher tonight and someone raised the point that every candidate for Bishop or Cardinal approved by the late Pope had to be dead set against homosexuality, birth control, and . . . masturbation.

Curious, I looked it up.  (Google search:  Pope Catholic Masturbation.)  Yes, masturbation is officially considered a grave sin and a "seriously disordered act" (Pope Paul VI's words) by the Catholic church.  Why?  In part, for the same reason the Church opposes birth control:  "Catholic teaching is that sexual activity is intended for conception, thus masturbation is an immoral sexual practice because it does not permit conception."  In part, apparently, because it's too much plain dumb fun -- er, doesn't direct attention above and beyond the self and its grubby gratification:  "In addition, the Catholic Church teaches that masturbation breeds lust and selfishness, which takes one further from God."

My own opinion is that a) "Love thy neighbor as thyself" implies that you have to love yourself before you can love another, and that holds true in sexual development too, and b) if God hadn't wanted us to masturbate, He would have given us shorter arms.  But finally, I think it's a pretty trivial issue, which is why it isn't discussed much anymore.  Nearly everybody does it and it's silly to make them feel tortured about it, and guilt may even contribute to obsession and addiction, which is the sin and the problem -- not small-bore (and finally boring) pleasure.

But like so many idle Google searches, this one turned up a treasure:  the transcript of a "Frontline" debate on "The Catholic Church and Sex."  The staunch resistance to change and the yearning for change are right up against each other, both articulated with rare concision, clarity and passion.  Here's a taste:

I think American idea that somehow democracy is the answer to faith, that if we can only vote on this then we can determine truth . . . then what a small truth that is. . . . Hey, this is not a democracy, it's based on truth. Jesus did not take an opinion poll when he was on earth and today he's not taking opinion polls . . . to say, Gosh, you know everyone's unhappy with this so we've got to change it. Truth does not change.     - Susan Mangels

***

It works. The whole church's teaching, on openness and generosity to life. And when I see . . . the use of artificial means of contraception-- I see a NO. . . . If in the middle of the most intimate act of your marriage is a great big NO, which is what artificial contraception is. That NO spreads out into everything. And you get unwanted children. . . . That doesn't happen among the people I know. . . . It's this joyous sense of "We're going to accept that our love makes something". It's marvelous, it's exciting, it is something that works. All I can tell to people is "Try it." Because the tragedy of this age is that we have a whole generation of people who talk a lot about sex and who have never had real sexual intimacy. Because every sexual act contains in it a NO.     - Dale O'Leary

***

It's different in my tradition, in the Baptist tradition. Once you are married in a relationship of love and commitment, there is no other justification needed for the expression of that love sexually. That that is a God-given gift, the sexuality between man and woman, and there is no NO in that. In and of itself, it is all YES. If there is love, if there is respect and commitment and honor, it is all YES. And it has nothing to do with whether that possibly or will result in a child.     - Lynn Powell

***

This Pope has said some beautiful things about women. But he has also said some very significant things about women being at fault. . . . he spoke to a woman who was going to the Conference on Women, I believe in Beijing. And it's well-publicized that he said to her, "Women are the cause of men's failings".     - Richard Sipe

***

(On forbidding birth control)  Let me say something very clear. This teaching has been set down, it will not be changed. Not in this millennium, not in the next millennium, and those who are fighting it, will pass away. The spirit of this age is going to dissipate like every age before it, and the Church's teaching will stay firm, and a hundred years from now it will be more prophetic than it is today.

And the tragedy, the tragedy is that the ordinary Catholic is not being told this. They are being deceived into believing that this is something that can be changed. That if we had different priests or different bishops or someone else, this could be changed. It can't be. And it is wrong.     - Dale O'Leary

***

But the teaching on birth control you say will never change. And I say, that you are saying that the earth is flat, and that the earth is the center of the universe.     - Richard Sipe

***

And there are women in Africa, for example, who are living chaste lives within their marriage, they are faithful to their husbands, and their husbands come home and infect them. If there was a condom there, they wouldn't be infected.     - Lynn Powell

This wonderful faith in condoms! It just seems like this age is worshipping at that altar, and I will not worship at that altar, and the church will not.     - Dale O'Leary

***

I can only speak out of, if I can speak...(near tears) of what is such a profound and intimate and real part of the fiber of my being. To have experienced the call to the ordained priesthood. . . . loving the Church . . . willing to give my life for the Church, and having that Church say to me, "Because God created you a woman, you are constituitively unable, by virtue of gender, to have a call to the ordained priesthood".

It doesn't tell me just that it will not accept it. It doesn't tell me that it doesn't like it or it's uncomfortable with it. I am told in a statement of John Paul II that I am constituitively, by virtue of my creation, unable to have a call that I feel is part of the integrity of who I am.

When I am at Eucharist, the pain of that sometimes is so bad. I know that the call is not a right. Nobody has the right to ordination. The call to any kind of vocation that we are in is a gift of God. It is a grace. I did not look for it. . . .

I find it inconceivable that God, from the beginning, as John Paul says, it is in the mind of God from the beginning that women could never be called to serve the people of God through the ordained priesthood. That my God is so gracious, is so loving, is so much bigger than any of us, or the church will ever be, that this is impossible. It's a violation to me, that I cannot be begin to tell you how painful it is. I just can't.     - Sister Bettina Ferraro

There's much more.

- amba

Comments

[Danny]

These are the kinds of issues that make me cringe at the unending adulation of the Pope and the bloated pomp of the top hierarchies of the Catholic church. Leaving abortion aside, the church's stand on birth control is nothing less than criminal in this day and age. It's also so out of touch with 99 percent of practicing Catholics today that I'm surprised huge contingents of condom-using Catholics don't storm the gilded gates of the Vatican. And masturbation?? My God, why can't they get this one off the books already? If there's a priest, bishop, or cardinal alive today who hasn't masturbated, I will take the vow of chastity myself and join an order of Benedictine monks.

[john mary]

masturbation is sinful and can be avoided by reading of the holy and spiritual books. Avoid going to clubs.I am surprised that people still masturbate?
The truth is that Christ is alive and would stop you from masturbating if you ask him!

[Rachel]

Masturbation is wrong. Maybe we have all fallen to it, maybe there are people who have not ever committed this sin-- whatever the case may be it is still wrong. Prayer is the answer. Don't give up hope because God will help me and he will help you. Keep confessing and God will keep forgiving. Repent and try to make this unhealthy habit go away from your life. I am trying every day. I still fail and I am glad that I have God to forgive me. I will keep confessing my sins and asking for graces so that I may never do it again. Jesus said if you are committing sins go to the source of your sinful behavior and eliminate it. Get rid of the pornography and sexual thoughts. Fill your mind with pure thoughts and have your focus be on praising God. A young saint, St. Dominic, said he would rather die than commit a mortal sin. Remember these words and embrace them. Do your best to never commit this impure act again. St. Dominic, pray for us.

[lol]

lol, Masturbation is by no means unhealthy.
Masturbation can help relieve stress and:
Relieve menstrual cramps
Help for insomnia (i.e. when a person is having trouble falling asleep)
Stimulate the immune system to help build up resistance to common infections.
Release mood elevating hormones
Reduce embarrassing spontaneous erections for teen males
Reduce the number of unwanted wet dreams for young men

[amba]

And reduce the risk of prostate cancer, apparently.

Not much discussed is its importance for women in discovering how their own bodies work, not as obvious as men's.

[James]

Oh, I dunno. I think in some ways, masturbation is a wholly natural act, especially when one considers that they have been married before, once or twice, as the case may be. Knowing that, and knowing the man or woman had intimate relations while married leaves one to remember the "act" of conjugal lovemaking. Thinking about those things sometimes will certainly make one, who is apparently alone, masturbate at times, to remember, to think, to feel, to promote sleep, all of that. So, I think, in terms of the Church, if one has a good spiritual advisor and is open to talking about it under the guise of the confessional, then it is a judgement call with the individual ultimately making a decision to do so, or not. I think, too, on the level of understanding of the infinite Mercy of the Lord, He will permit us to masturbate now and again to see that that act is transitory in nature. If it is everyday or pathological to the point of our eyes falling out, then for God's sake, get some help and look at this from the point of view of a pathology. Not a bad thing, mind you, but belief in the Lord to allow you to move to a deeper relationship with Him might not be all that bad. Always remember that because we are human, we have no idea the infinite Mercy the Lord has for each of us. And because He is both human and Divine and very much alive, I think He knows what it is like to have these types of feelings and a need for this type of release. He allows us to experience this feeling. But compared to His Divine Love, there is no question that is the stronger force alive in each of us. But we must pray hard to ask the Lord to show that force and that energy to us. If we get to that level, we are indeed, blessed. It is a difficult journey at times, but worth it, I think. That's all I have to say.

[Icepick]

"Catholic teaching is that sexual activity is intended for conception, thus masturbation is an immoral sexual practice because it does not permit conception."

Au contraire! Have these people never heard of sperm banks?