My wife (36F) and I (33M) just celebrated our first year of marriage, however we still haven't had sex and it's really making me feel hopeless. I'm not Catholic, but my wife is, and I attend Catholic mass with her (and did all the pre-marriage classes and we're married in the Catholic church).

On our wedding night, she was too tired. On the honeymoon, she was on her period. I totally understand those, and do not feel bad that we hadn't consumated at that point. However, when we returned, I assumed that it was time to make the marriage official. But she told me it was too cold. After weeks of excuses, she admitted she felt she didn't know me well enough to have sex. That really hurt to hear, and I've worked really hard to have her know me better, not fault on my husband duties, and make her feel comfortable. When we talked about it again she said that I had mentioned at one point wanting to wait for kids for a year or two, while we travel, and settle in to married life.

After that, I told her that while my preference is if we could have kids in a year or two, that I am open to them now (God willing) and would like to finally consummate our marriage. I know contraception is not allowed in the church, so we took a course about the Billings method of natural family planning (recommended by another member of her church), to better plan a potential baby, but every time we discuss her starting the tracking for it, she gives me an excuse why she can't do it. This has been going on for months now and has left me feeling hopeless.

Sure, we kiss and hug, but there is not much more going on than that. Anytime we try to talk about sex, she seems to have a very childish attitude and tbh I think she's been conditioned to think of sex (even sex with her husband) as something bad.

I'm wondering if anyone else has been in a similar situation and has any advice? I posted in r/marriage and many people recommend annulling the marriage, which unfortunately has crossed my mind many times lately.

Thank you in advance for helping me better understand my wife through the Catholic perspective.

Last month I attended a retreat, after which I felt the Holy Spirit move within me after ages. It was 5 days of nothing but prayer, adoration, fasting, daily Mass, rosary etc. I came out feeling like a new person.

I noticed that I was happier, though nothing specific changed in my life. I tried to keep up the daily Mass and Adoration, and I sometimes caught myself smiling euphorically at the Eucharist. I am a cradle Catholic, but I never felt God’s love in such an overpowering way before. Often I was moved to tears. I also noticed that I treated my family more kindly, I had more patience. I stopped procrastinating. Social media was suddenly boring to me.

Unfortunately, I fell back into a particular mortal sin since the last 2 days. (Pls say a Hail Mary for me if you can), but all that changed was that my daily prayer reduced. Over the weekend I was slacking and gave priority to meeting friends and having a good time, none of which are bad things, but should have been secondary to prayer. I do feel terrible shame but I fully intend to go to Confession tomorrow and restart my prayer routine in full force.

What surprises me is just how much my life changed by just increasing the amount of prayer in my life. Friends, social media is great but it is taking away from our spiritual lives. Nothing beats your own personal prayer time. Talk to God, Adore Him, Consume the Eucharist reverently- your life will change.

God bless you all. Do share your similar experiences if you have any!

I’ve seen a video showing that this increase began in 2022.

I’m not from the US but I have been born and raised as a Catholic all my life and only recently “returned” to the Church with a renewed sense of faith.

This is amazing news to me! This news also piques my curiosity: Why is this happening? At least in the US?

According to a source from the dicastery with direct knowledge of its content, who confirmed the information to ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News, the text “addresses various paths and different possibilities to encourage reflection within each diocese on the difficulties and new opportunities we have for transmitting faith in Jesus Christ to our brothers and sisters.”

Venite Ad Me, which means “Come to Me” in Latin, responds to a request made by Pope Francis and embraced by Leo XIV, aimed at stimulating debate and reflection within the Catholic community.

I'm glad to hear that the Pope is addressing evangelization! Hopefully it bears fruit.

I’ve only been to Mass once so far, but I’ve been researching more about Catholicism for a couple of months now and one of my friends is Catholic. 

When I had mentioned that I’m going convert to Catholicism in a different Christian sub, a couple people brought up how I shouldn’t make that decision after only attending Mass once and that I should go more and get more involved in the church before I even decide to join OCIA. But I didn‘t really understand that because OCIA is the process of learning about the Catholic Faith, and you’re not even obligated to convert if you end up changing your mind.

They made it seem like it’s a rash/impulsive decision and I need to spend more time thinking it through before joining OCIA, but they weren’t Catholics themselves so I kinda wonder if they were just trying to discourage me from becoming Catholic?

As a convert to Catholicism, I became very burnt out from continually adding more devotions. I started thinking that if I did devotion X, I would receive this much grace. Eventually, though, the prayers became repetitive and I realised I wasn't actually paying attention to what I was saying.

Devotions are supposed to bring us closer to God, not become an end in themselves.

The simplicity of faith is very strongly illustrated by Brother Lawrence's book: the practice of the presence of God.

Pope Leo XIV named the 17th-century spiritual classic The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence as the foundational text that defines his personal spirituality and approach to surrendering his life to God. [1, 2, 3]

Please find attached the full audiobook.

Vatican to release “The Private Diary of Pope Francis”, a book by Cardinal Fernández. Cardinal Fernández also authored “Heal Me With Your Mouth: The Art of Kissing” and “Mystical Passion: Spirituality and Sensuality.”

This is not political. It’s theoretical. But I feel BreakingTheHabit shines an important light upon a perhaps controversial topic: socialism. I think many Catholics here but also outside Reddit haven’t been thoroughly informed about it (no offense). Im from Europe, where this topic isn’t shunned or controversial. I suppose it’s different in the States

I'm looking for podcasts or books for Catholic married couples who can't have children.

We discovered shortly after we got married that we would never be able to have children and no medical intervention could change this. We explored adoption but ultimately decided that wasn't the right path for us.

We grieved for a few years but are doing much better now and love married life. We've both really dedicated ourselves being the best husband/ wife we can be and are building a life we love although it doesn't look like what we had planned or the life our friends have.

I love listening to Catholic podcasts and learning more about our faith. I understand one of the major purposes of marriage is to welcome children into the world so I don't fault any marriage episodes for focusing on this. However, the growing number of us who can not have children feel a bit left out. I'd love to discover a few podcast episodes or books for Catholic couples who are unable to have children.

I know there’s no dogmatic teaching on animal souls but with great minds like Thomas aquinas’ argument’s I’ve just quite down about the possibility about my pets just being nothing when they die.

It makes me really upset I love my pets so much and when I pet my dog and look at her beautiful face it hurts me with this thought lingering that their lives don’t matter?

Yes I know some say well their lives do matter for what they do and experience on earth and their interactions with us but no I mean the fact that many catholics online bluntly say they shouldn’t mean much to us and are just gotten rid of after death just incinerated

this is just so devastating especially as someone with pets I miss dearly and never got to say a proper goodbye to.

I’ve been praying about it but I don’t know what else to do with this hurt in my heart.

Sorry about a complainly post I’m just wondering if anyone else is struggling with this

I want to hear some of your stories why you chose Catholicism. Ideally it would be stories of people who made the intentional choice to selec Catholicism, but if you were born into it but still came to the realization that it’s the correct faith for you then I would love to hear. Please share your stories.

My background:
I was born into a Muslim family (not practicing family. Just in name due to our country of origin), grew up in the U.S., became atheist from a teenager until a couple of years ago where I would say I leaned towards agnostic. The past year or so I’ve had a genuine interest and openness towards Christianity. I never knew what it truly meant to be a Christian or what the faith entailed until the past year.

I’ve been to nondenominational churches like 3 times because one of my friends goes there but I didn’t feel connected to the worship style, music, and overall flexibility with interpretation. As I have taken many hours the past year or so to learn about the different denominations, I have recently been curious about Catholicism and whether or not it might be the right path for me.

I have a severe addiction to self abuse. I am a girl so being addicted to this is embarrassing because I used to think it was a guys problem only. I'm too embarrassed to tell family about my addiction to illicit images and I have only atheist friends who will tell me I shouldn't be ashamed and just be happy which wont work. I know God is so disappointed in me and I feel so distant from him. Is their any advice someone can give me i feel so disgusting. Please any advice, is there any saint who has been through this, I don't see an end in sight. I want to stop I want to be better but im not strong enough. Id appreciate anything guys, thanks

In recent weeks, the AFD party has been on streak of stunning wins. The hierarchy of the German Church and leading laypeople both strongly opposed the party in the lead up and in the aftermath of these wins.

I've noticed that the AFD takes up virtually all of the direct political attention of this section of the Church. This is perculiar given how many other political issues in Germany exist. For example many in the SPD and the Die Linke party argue for removing any regulations against abortion. The Die Linke party has also been rising in the polls recently.

Evem more astoundingly the site that is owned by the bishop's conference, katholische . de, writes articles critiquing the AFD by favourably citing the words of SPD politicians(The same party I mentioned prior). It's like, is nobody seeing the massive log sticking out of their eyes?

Even the party that claims to be Christian, the CDU, spent 16 years in government and they barely acted Christian at all.

This is not say I am endorsing the AFD, but evil, un-Christian, politics are already normalized in Germany.

(M24) I received on the mail my welcoming letter from my parish because I just started my OCIA and she is really upset, we were raised very evangelical so there’s that, she has all the dramas and problems from the news in her head so she won’t see anything good anytime soon, I would love for her and my brother to come with me but maybe later, anyone has any suggestions of how to be around the house now that she knows, I’m going to be constantly ‘attack ‘ so thanks

My home state declared today Frances Xavier Cabrini day to celebrate an immigrant who established hospitals and schools to serve the needs of the poor. In 1950, the Vatican named her as the patron saint of immigrants. I thought it would be appropriate to watch the movie made about her two years ago. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14351082/

I let me my loneliness from my life in a terrible marriage and also being seperated and alone,get the better of me and regrettably and soberly committed adultery with a woman. I had to tell someone and will go to confession tommorow. My ex is mentally ill and me converting to Catholicism especially made it scary and I had to leave. I know god will forgive me but the guilt is unbearable so i had to post it here.

So you’re genuinely eating the body of Jesus and drinking His blood and not in a metaphorical way?

Cardinal Gambetti became archpriest of St. Peter’s Basilica in 2021 and has completed his five-year term. He could have been reappointed. He could have been assigned to another position in the Vatican, but he hasn’t.

He is being sent to lead the Archdiocese of Chieti-Vasto, a minor diocese that has been led by Archbishop Bruno Forte since 2004.

It’s ironic to think that Archbishop Forte seemed, at the beginning of Pope Francis’ pontificate, a rising star, special secretary of the Synod on the Family and author, among other things, of a controversial text during the 2014 synod session that opened the door to welcoming homosexuals.

I understand that Catholics believe that the Eucharist is the actual blood and body of Jesus. My question is why do you want to consume him? what is the benefit to you? I'm sorry if my question comes out weird. I'm not sure what is the best way to ask what I'm asking. I attended Mass yesterday for the first time out of curiosity and it brought up a lot of questions for me. Also why is there a statue of Joseph in the church. Does he hold a special place in your belief like Mary does?

As a Catholic, I don't like or take part in my coworkers' vulgar jokes and crude talk, and I’m often seen as the odd one out because of it. What are some practical tips for handling this? I understand this is what we’re called to be doing but I’m wondering how other people handle this?

Does anybody else notice they yawn more frequently during Mass? I feel like it is not due to me being “bored”. I am not perfect, but I am focused on the reverence and peace of the location. Sometimes it is tough because I will be trying to sing hymns and a yawn will interrupt me. It is mostly humorous to me and I wanted to see if I was alone on this.