Expert: Donald Higby - 2/7/2012

Question
Hello Deacon,
How are you?  I hope all is well.  Thank you, in advance for considering my question.  Any advice or instruction would be greatly appreciated. My wife and I are trying to conceive.  It's been several months now and we have so far been unsuccessful. I wanted to take the initiative to get checked out to see if I had any issues that would prevent us from conceiving.  But, as far I can tell, the way a doctor would test for that sort of thing would be with a sample of bodily fluid.  I haven't seen a doctor yet.  But, I'm guessing the only way to obtain that sample would be to perform an immoral act.  As this would be for a "medical" reason, would the act of obtaining the sample still be considered sinful?  If so, and I understand that I may be asking a question out of your realm of expertise, would you know if there is another way to test if a man has reproductive issues?
Thank you,
Phil

Answer
There is a method for testing that the church approves -- it is to have sexual intercourse using a condom with a few holes in it.  There are enough sperm left in the condom to study fertility.  Most dioceses can refer you to a catholic physician who does this sort of thing.  I know it sounds messy and strange, but it fulfills the Church's position that every sexual act must be capable of transmitting life, and must be an act of genital intercourse.  
Now I might suggest the following:  Before you go to this trouble, you and your wife should become familiar with Natural Family Planning, even to the extent of taking a  course.  Once you begin charting her cycles, you will be able to tell whether or not she is ovulating consistently, and then you should be able to time your sexual activity to coincide with the time of maximum fertility.  If you contact members of the Couple to Couple League, they should be able to help.  There are also suggestions to improve the likelihood that you will produce enough sperm to bring about conception.  If that doesn't work, then I'd suggest a visit to a good Catholic urologist.  Hope this helps.