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The Vocation of Marriage Faith, vol, 43, no. 4 (2011), pp. 6-9
Marriage is a vocation; it is the vocation to which the vast majority of people are called. It has two clear purposes or, as the Catechism says, a "twofold end...: the good of the spouses themselves and the transmission of life" (n. 2363). It is a call both to faithful love and to fruitful love.
1. The first purpose is that spouses grow together in goodness, and in that openness to goodness which prepares them for heaven. This means specifically that they are meant to grow in loving God (the first commandment) by means of growing in love for each other throughout their lifetime.

The De-humanization of marital sex (Faith (2011), pp. 11-15)

1. Humanae Vitae initiated a new analysis of the conjugal act

Humanae vitae, Paul VI's 1968 Encyclical is principally recalled as reiterating the Church's perennial condemnation of artificial birth-control. But it is much more than that. It opened up the way for a deeper human understanding of what, in sexual intercourse between husband and wife, justifies its being termed the conjugal act.

            I have been asked to reply to an article written under the pseudonym of Polonaise in the June issue of the Catholic World Report. Anonymous writings do not appeal to me, since I feel that each one should have the courage of his or her convictions. So, while Polonaise involves me in his animadversions, I would probably have let that pass, also because it is never pleasant or easy to answer a critic who has not understood the position he criticizes. But since he also misrepresents the teaching of the magisterium (partly by ignoring it), I think your readers are entitled to some comments which hopefully can clarify some important points.