A senior Catholic theologian and Dominican priest has announced his plans to marry a former pupil. The Rev Paul Parvis, head of Blackfriars, a theological college at Oxford, plans to marry Ms Sara Dudley Edwards (29), a former Dominican sister and daughter of the Irish historian Prof Owen Dudley Edwards of Edinburgh University.
Father Parvis has shocked colleagues by announcing his decision and resigning his post as Regent of Studies and head of Blackfriars College.
The couple, who met while Ms Dudley Edwards was studying at Blackfriars College after taking temporary vows to become a Dominican sister, will marry at a register office in Scotland in September.
Father John Orme Mills, director of communications for the English Dominican Province, said this morning: "Father Parvis announced his decision three weeks ago to his friends and to the order.
"It has come as a big shock to us all. Father Parvis is a man holding a very senior position and his decision means that not only is he giving up the priesthood but giving up a post of importance and standing as well as security.
"It is a very grave step indeed for him to take. We are very concerned for him not only because he's doing something that Roman Catholic priests are not supposed to do."
The American-born Father Parvis has already resigned his post at Blackfriars, announcing his intention to fellow Dominicans. Although he officially remains a member of the Order of Preachers until he marries, he has asked the Dominicans to begin the process of laicisation to relieve him of his religious duties.
Ms Dudley Edwards was in the Dominican order for seven years but never took her final vows. She is a niece of the historian and columnist Dr Ruth Dudley Edwards.
Dr Ruth Dudley Edwards told the Daily Telegraph yesterday: "She is a remarkable girl and nothing she does would surprise me. He is a lucky man."