Plea may go to Vatican

Press, 21 January 1984, Page 8

Plea may go to Vatican

NZPA-PA London The Pope might be asked to decide whether a paralysed former soldier, Stephen Rigby, can go ahead with his wedding plans.

A Catholic priest has refused to marry Mr Rigby, who is 29, because he would be unable to consummate the marriage. Mr Rigby, who lives near Derby, has been battling for a year to marry the woman who has been nursing him, Ilona Eradhun. He formerly served in the Army and was injured in a gymnastic display, causing him to be paralysed from the arms down.

He and Miss Eradhun, aged 31, have been living together for seven months. “You would think I have enough problems without being faced with a religious problem,” Mr Rigby said. “In my eyes Stephen is still a man in every sense of the word,” said Miss Eradhun. “Obviously I am disappointed that the Catholic Church has made it so hard for us to marry.” Father Edward Walker, of St Hugh’s Church, Borrowash, said that marriage was a spiritual and physical union. “This union cannot be marriage union.”

Asked about his decision, he said: “There are often difficult situations in life. I can’t see how we could allow them to be married in church.”

Mr Rigby says that he will ask the Bishop of Nottingham, the Most Rev. James McGuinness, if he can overrule Father Walker’s decision.

A spokesman for the Catholic Information Office said that the Bishop would probably gather all the facts of the case and refer the issue to the Vatican. But it was not clear whether the Pope would make a ruling or whether it would be considered by one

of his offices. There would probably be a delay of several months before a final decision was made. According to Canon Law

of the Catholic Church anybody who was impotent was not able to marry because the marriage could not be consummated, said the

Church spokesman. “Obviously, there is sympathy and great sadness in this case, I am sure,” he said.