Reply #27: Also see: ''Documentary spotlights Catholic denial of paraplegic weddings'' [View All]

Documentary spotlights Catholic denial of paraplegic weddings

KATU.com
Jun 23, 2008 at 7:14 PM PDT
By REBECCA MILLER - AP

NEW YORK - Flavia Fontes was talking on the phone when a headline in a small Brazilian newspaper caught her eye: A paraplegic man was forbidden to get married by the Roman Catholic Church because he was impotent. "I just had such a gut reaction," Fontes says. "I could not believe that the church would do this to somebody who probably had many obstacles in his life."

Even though Fontes, a Brazilian filmmaker living in New York, was already immersed in another project, she decided she needed to capture Hedir Antonio de Brito's story. The result is "Forbidden Wedding," which premieres on the Sundance Channel at 9 p.m. EST Monday. It is the third documentary Fontes has directed, filmed and produced, and it has appeared in almost 20 film festivals, capturing three awards.

De Brito was two weeks away from marrying Elzimar de Lourdes Serafim, a widow, in August 1996, when he received a shocking letter from the local bishop denying their application for a marriage certificate. According to canon law, any man or woman who is impotent and unable to have intercourse cannot get married.

De Brito wrote a letter to Pope John Paul II to appeal the bishop's decision, but didn't get a response.

http://www.katu.com/entertainment/3627531.html