Question
Gramps,
I realize that we are to remain completely chaste before marriage, but what about cohabiting with single persons of the opposite sex in a completely platonic arrangement? Does church policy have a specific stance? If circumstances require that living arrangements be coed, and the law of chastity is not being broken, it seems to me that this shouldn’t be a problem.
Sheldon
Answer
Dear Sheldon,
I may be getting on in years, but I’m not so old that I’ve forgotten the kinds of temptations that would tend to come with a shared living arrangement with an unrelated member of the opposite sex! My experience is that many male/female relationships begin with one or both parties anticipating that romance will never blossom between them, and then . . . unexpectedly . . . it does.
I’m not aware of any specific Church policy prohibiting the practice; but in general, platonic cohabitation strikes me as a most unwise arrangement both because it courts temptation and because it presents the appearance of evil, which we are taught to avoid.
Gramps
