Hello all, This is my first post. I saw that there is another message thread addressing chastity cages and Christianity. My question is a little more specific. Does anyone have any definitive information regarding if the use of a chastity cage would be "disordered" from a Catholic perspective? As I understand it, the Catholic theology of sexuality teaches that sex involves promoting marital unity and being open to life. I also understand that Catholicism promotes the concept of chastity in a more mundane sense. My wonderful wife is Catholic and I can honestly say that her faith saved her life. I don't want to challenge her faith nor fuel religious debates. However, I would like to hear if anyone has previously discussed this with a Catholic priest.
No, I did not/would not discuss this with a priest. Why would I? I don't need their permission to live my life. I was raised catholic but I dropped it as soon as I was old enough. I enjoy chastity. I don't care what the religion says. Sorry to be blunt, but that's where I stand on the subject.
Thus is rather easy from my perspective. Using male chastity, within a monogamous catholic Christian marriage DOES NOT remove sex from the marital dynamic. Rather, it intensifies sex by reordering priorities in a way that is completely consistent with biblical teaching of male sacrifice and commitment to the marriage, just as Christ did for what the bible describes as his bride, the church.
Give her the key, give her yourself unselfishly in sacrificial love and you are 100% consistent with a Christian marriage as defined in the New Testament.
I am not catholic, but I have a lot in common. Here is the chapter of the catechism which deals with this. http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p3s2c2a6.ht m Below is a summary of the main points, and I think male chastity devices would fit well with paragraph 2395, but I don't see where it would be in opposition to anything else in the chapter. If I were to discuss this with a priest, I would ask about that. Also, I agree with SMS529. In my experience chastity increases sex, and would therefore even promote life. ------ 2392 "Love is the fundamental and innate vocation of every human being" (FC 11). 2393 By creating the human being man and woman, God gives personal dignity equally to the one and the other. Each of them, man and woman, should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity. 2394 Christ is the model of chastity. Every baptized person is called to lead a chaste life, each according to his particular state of life. 2395 Chastity means the integration of sexuality within the person. It includes an apprenticeship in self-mastery. 2396 Among the sins gravely contrary to chastity are masturbation, fornication, pornography, and homosexual practices. 2397 The covenant which spouses have freely entered into entails faithful love. It imposes on them the obligation to keep their marriage indissoluble. 2398 Fecundity is a good, a gift and an end of marriage. By giving life, spouses participate in God's fatherhood. 2399 The regulation of births represents one of the aspects of responsible fatherhood and motherhood. Legitimate intentions on the part of the spouses do not justify recourse to morally unacceptable means (for example, direct sterilization or contraception). 2400 Adultery, divorce, polygamy, and free union are grave offenses against the dignity of marriage.
Another term to look up is “bodily mortification”. I feel the chastity device itself serves that purpose. It “kills” the penis until it can be properly used. The Catholic sub group Opus Dei has some articles on the topic.
Thanks for posting this. As a cradle Catholic, I have struggled with many issues raised in this section of the catechism throughout my entire life. How does one resolve the battle between the natural biological urges and what the church teaches?
This is the crux of the matter. If 2395 presents the tension as an "apprenticeship," then we are not expected to resolve it on our own, although there is an amount of work that we must each lean into. Not easy, but worthwhile.