Posted on 07/19/2006 8:13:33 AM PDT by NYer
Recently married Catholic Priest Father Godfrey Shiundu has broken his vows of celibacy. Drum East Africa's Jim Onyango talked to him. We reproduce the interesting story below.
I was living a double life, but now my conscience is clear," says Catholic Priest Father Godfrey Shiundu, 38, of his recent marriage. "I knew it was wrong to have a girlfriend while serving God as a priest, but I couldn't leave her because I love her with all my heart."
Father Shiundu opened a can of worms when he tossed the mandatory celibacy rule out of the window and married his sweetheart Stella Nangila, who is a nurse at the Moi Referral Hospital in Eldoret, about 340km west of Nairobi. The colourful wedding in May, followed a formal civil marriage conducted in February at the Kitale District Commissioner's Office.
The awareness of living a lie, he explains, was as much a factor as love in pushing him towards his decision. "I'd be with my girlfriend in bed on a Sunday morning, then I'd rush to church to say Mass hurriedly so that I could go back to her. At the altar I portrayed an image of an honest and Holy Father, but in my head I knew that wasn't true. I was sinning. I couldn't live with that guilt anymore."
Father Shiundu is no stranger to controversy. Four years ago, he was accused of impregnating a seminary nun. Temporarily rejected by the church, he had no one to turn to but Stella. "The bishops didn't give me a hearing; I still maintain I'm innocent. Stella was my soul mate, the only person I could rely on."
Father Shiundu says his decision to marry her wasn't a difficult one to make: after all, she was already the mother of his two daughters, Natalie (aged six) and Camilla, aged one. Standing at 1.8m tall and dressed in a dark suit and black shirt, he looks every inch a gentleman. A neat haircut frames his light complexion, and his easygoing, confident manner betrays no sign of distress. He answers his mobile phone with a hearty laugh. "That's my former schoolmate congratulating me on my wedding!" he says.
Father Shiundu who holds a degree in theology from Urbaniana University in Rome, was ordained a priest in 1994. Three years later he was posted to Kerio Valley, where he met and fell in love with Stella - but strong disapproval from the church caused them to move to Uganda where the priest enrolled as a law student at Makerere University. However, he eventually dropped out of the course and decided to return to Kenya with Stella, marry her and put an end to their life of subterfuge.
His proposal, says Stella, came as a surprise. "I didn't expect it so soon." Her family was at first vehemently opposed to the match. "My mum - who's a staunch Catholic-warned me against marrying him."
Eventually, though, both Stella's parents came round and attended her wedding. Her father led her up the aisle and gave her away.
Father Shiundu's actions may have outraged his fellow clerics, yet he has no apologies to make. "I haven't broken my church rules - I just married my girlfriend of many years, and I don't think I need permission from the Catholic bishops to do that."
The church, however, doesn't see it that way. As soon as Father Shiundu's marriage had been solemnised, the senior bishops had him excommunicated from the church. This means he may not step onto any Catholic Church altar, or even sit among a Catholic congregation in any function.
But his reaction is one of anger and obstinacy. "Being a Catholic father is my calling. In my youth, I knew I would be a priest because I wanted to work with the poor and the sick. I haven't accomplished that yet, so I can't leave the church now," he says.
Father Shiundu's concern for his parish seems to have won him many sympathisers in Eldoret. The sleepy, agricultural town was abuzz with the news of his wedding. Everybody I spoke to seemed to know about the priest and his bride - and most of them shrugged off any suggestion of improper priestly conduct.
John Gitau, a taxi driver, laughed when I asked him what he thought of the marriage. "This is a wonderful thing that's happened here," he said.
"Some Catholic priests have girlfriends, but they hide them. Now Father Shiundu has shown us the way by marrying his girlfriend publicly. It has opened our eyes."
Looking at the couple together, you get the feeling of two people deeply in love. They walk holding hands and smiling at each other. "Isn't she beautiful?" Father Shiundu asks me. "Being without a woman in your life isn't as easy as Catholics are made to believe. I'm only human and I also need some romance."
His rejection by the church authorities has not fazed him. Instead of backing down, he has now joined a rebel Catholic group called the Reformed Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church, with its Kenyan headquarters in Kitale. In fact, Father Shiundu defiantly sat among prominent Catholic bishops and priests at the funeral of a fellow priests in Eldoret on the very day his excommunication order was issued from Nairobi. This further outraged the Catholic Church authorities. Archbishop John Njue, chairman of the Kenyan Episcopal Conference, led the bishops condemning Father Shiundu.
"His marriage, as well as the fact he has formed his own breakaway church, are grounds for automatic excommunication," he declared.
But vice-chairman Phillip Sulumeti takes a more conciliatory view. He says that if Father Shiundu is prepared to renounce his marriage, he will be readmitted to the main fold. Father Shiundu, though, is far from remorseful about either his marital status or his rebel church, which follows traditional Catholic protocol, such as the regular celebration of Mass - but with some changes.
"The major difference is that we allow our Diocesan fathers and bishops to get married if they wish. And if a polygamous man comes to our church, we will admit him, but we don't encourage members who are already in the church to marry more wives," says Bishop Dr Karl Raimund Rodig, the head of the new church, which has its headquarters in Miami, America. Bishop Rodig - who is also due to marry soon - flew to Kenya to preside over Father Shiundu and Stella's wedding.
The Reformed Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church now has more than 2,000 members, and is encouraging women to join as priests. The election of bishops is done by the faithful, rather than by the head American church, and lay people are allowed up to the altar to read the Bible. The new church also permits the use of condoms, provided one of the partners is HIV- positive and could infect the other. These radical changes fly in the face of accepted Catholic doctrine, but Father Shiundu says a more realistic, practical approach is needed towards life, sexuality and relationships.
"When I was ordained a priest I promised to remain celibate, but-like any other promise- you can break it if it isn't working," he says. Still, he's just sworn to love and cherish Stella till death them do part.
Catholic Bishops Cannot Bar Me, Says Priest
The East African Standard (Nairobi)
NEWS
July 19, 2006
Posted to the web July 19, 2006
By Stephen Makabila
Nairobi
A rebel Catholic priest, who recently got married, has dismissed the move by Kenyan Catholic Bishops to excommunicate him.
Fr Godfrey Siundu claimed 26 priests from the mainstream Catholic Church had crossed over to his Reformed Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church (RRC&AC).
"The bishops should know that I have no war with them but they have no power to nullify my authority to exercise priesthood," Fr Siundu said in an interview with The Standard and KTN in Eldoret on Tuesday.
Siundu tabled the names of the 26 priests he alleged had defected to his church.
"The priests who have joined me are from various dioceses including Kitale, Kericho, Bungoma, Nairobi, Eldoret, Kakamega, Machakos, Kisumu, Homa Bay and Nyeri," said Siundu.
Siundu wed Stella Nangila on May 14, 2006, at the Kitale Showgrounds in a ceremony presided over by the head of the church, Archbishop Dr Karl Raimund Rodig, who flew in from Germany. The highly publicised wedding was covered by the local and international media and attended by hundreds of members.
Shortly after the wedding, Catholic bishops led by the chairman of the Kenya Episcopal Conference, John Njue, excommunicated him from the church for breaking the priestly vow of celibacy.
Siundu said although the bishops had the power to ordain priests, they had no authority to withdraw their ability to preside over church functions such as weddings, baptisms and burials. He said some Catholics were on a campaign to soil his name.
Just wow!
"When I was ordained a priest I promised to remain celibate, but-like any other promise- you can break it if it isn't working," he says. Still, he's just sworn to love and cherish Stella till death them do part.
Anyone want to lend him $5 if he promises to pay it back......
I guess you didn't read very carefully; he already has two with his lover. The man clearly does not belong in the priesthood, or any other Christian ministry. He's a poor candidate for matrimony, too. Look at his comment about how you can set a promise aside if it's not working out! Would you marry him, given that attitude?
I'm glad he chose to live a full life.
Jesus didn't live a full life? The Apostle John, who never married, didn't live a full life?
Nobody is married in heaven; Jesus says so flatly in Scripture. If marriage were necessary for a "full life," then it would be necessary in heaven also. Celibacy (I mean authentic celibacy, not someone who pretends to be celibate while sinning) points toward the state in which we will live in heaven, "like angels, neither marrying nor given in marriage".
It's in the Bible.
That will soon be taken care of, I think.
The priesthood is not a job, it is a calling to serve God. They are married to the Church. Celibacy is here to stay.
That would make me feel so secure, if I was his wife and the mother of his children.
The guy sounds like a moonbat.
Since God already knew this guy was going to get her pregnant and break his promise and get married, what does it matter?
Besides his desire to marry and going through with it, this fellow seems to have a lot of serious issues.
Somehow I don't think that those who want to do away with mandatory priestly celibacy would want him as their poster child.
Why would something necessary here on earth, be necessary in heaven? Do people have to eat in heaven, or use the bathroom?
Lol!
You cannot (and will not) begin to imagine how utterly irrelevant your opinions as to the meaning of Scripture are to any well-catechized Catholic. If you knew what you were talking about in respect to Scripture or Catholicism, you would be Catholic. Since you are not Catholic, your opinions of Catholicism or Scripture matter not to those who are Catholic.
As to Peter, the proper tense would be "had been married." Your Scriptural backing would be that his mother-in-law arose from her sickbed to serve Jesus when he was a guest at Peter's house. Was Peter's wife available to perform her household duties? Why not? Was she on a business trip to Tokyo? Leading a Kumbaya convention in Philadelphia? Teaching nuclear physics at Caligula University in Rome? Or dead???? Somehow, the last of these seems most likely. That's why her elderly and normally bed-ridden mother rose to the opportunity to serve her Savior as a houseguest.
A married Catholic clergy was indeed allowed for centuries and, in Eastern Rite Catholicism, it still is. It is also allowed for clergy of Anglican and Lutheran faiths (and perhaps others) who are already married when they swim the Tiber to return to the Roman roots of Christianity and successfully seek admittance to the Catholic priesthood.
The inference that the reason that Catholics become priests for same sex relations is beneath contempt. There are perverts in all denominations. Each and every one of them violates the Law of God if actively practicing perversion. Your suggestion makes as much sense as ascribing to all non-Catholic clergy a desire to steal from the collection plate when one pastor or one thousand of them steal. Each denomination has sinners and nothing but sinners. Fortunately your God and mine is a forgiving God if we repent our sins sincerely and seek his forgiveness. It was in all the Bibles and taught by the Teaching Magisterium as well which has the authority to explain Scripture on something more reliable than a do-it-yourself basis.
Was Jesus married or was He "unhealthy?" When Luther launched the reformation, he was unmarried. Was he also "unhealthy" in your opinion????? The unmarried St. Francis Xavier baptized 600,000 in the Far East before his very premature death. It is not recorded that he died of celibacy (or that anyone else has either). Was Francis Xavier "unhealthy" in your opinion???? Who should he have been getting it on with at the cost of how many baptisms in the name of the Trinity? What is a tolerable level of souls who should have been neglected to perdition in exchange for Suzy's putative attentions to Father Francis so that nmh might find him "healthy?"
How do you like that observation of the justly and newly excommunicated that, as to solemn vows taken before and to God, hey, if they don't work out, feel free to violate them? You want this man to pass such insights to innocent children????
Spoke it, told it, and nailed it! Spot on!
Wow, I hadn't thought of that!
I don't think it was even in view, much less flew out a window.
Since God created us, knowing what we will do, why wouldn't He like His creation, and what He knew it would do?
Why would we be perfect just because God liked what we did?
I think it addresses most of the questions I've seen you pose on this forum. Pope Benedict XVI wrote this prior to his election to the Papacy, and is an excellent read. I think you would get a lot out of it. If you don't want to buy it, your library may have a copy.
I will check my library, but I must say, that I really don't believe anyone actually knows why God does what He does....we all just have our beliefs.
This book deals with issues in Christianity, such as relativism, what we DO know about God, and what he wants of us, and is essentially a modern interpretation of Christianity with some good examples. So you are right, it is belief. I think it may help you understand our (Christian) view/response to many of the questions that you propose. He explains it far better than most others can. It will certainly stimulate a lot of thinking.
"We CAN excommunicate him from the one and only Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself and guaranteed by Him."
I stopped reading here.
Absolutely FALSE!
Christ did NOT start the Catholic church. Fallible mortals started it and labeled it the Catholic church.
NO WHERE in the BIBLE does it state this nor does He endorse the Catholic church. What Christ DOES endorse are the teachings of the Bible. When it comes to the teachings of the Bible, Catholics disagree with the Bible on dogma, tradition and teachings. You have been lead to believe all that nonsense but it is not true no matter how many times you say it! It's always FALSE!
I could easily print verse after verse after verse after verse, from the Bible, which I hope you take seriously that indicate how marriage is good. Having children is a blessing from God and that it is NOT required for a man or woman who wish to serve God to remain celibate. Surely you DO believe the Holy Spirit is alive and well guiding and helping the followers of Christ as well as direct prayer to Christ. To believe that an action such as NOT marrying makes you "obedient" or "disciplined" is absurd. No matter what your status, be in economic, single, married etc.. God looks after you and if you depend on Him, He will look after you and assist you in following Him. Your marital status is irrelevant when you FOLLOW HIM!
Really?
What Church did he start then?
What was the teaching authority before the Bible? The books were not agreed to until the 3rd - 4th Century. What was the authority before that?
If a Christian had a question or a problem- who did they go to? They did not go to scripture. They went to the Church led by the Apostles, then their leadership was passed on to the Bishops.
You might want to start reading some Church History. Maybe Some St. Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus, and Some St. Justin.
Listen to what they say about Christ and the Church.
You will surprise.
Excellent points, Campion. Thanks.
NO WHERE in the Bible is celibacy required.Thanks, but you know, as a Catholic, I rely on more than just the Bible, I also rely on Church tradition based on the Bible, some of which dates from the time the Bible was still being recorded by men, the instruments that God used to preserve his Word.
Peter was already married, and there is no indication that his wife was even alive during the time of his preaching. Of course God wants his children to marry, have children, and be happy. The Bible says that much. It also does not say that one HAS to marry. As you said, "Your marital status is irrelevant when you FOLLOW HIM!"
As for being married to the church, that is metaphorical, not literal. Perhaps if more Protestants could understand which parts of Scripture are meant to be taken literally, and which parts were meant as parables, we wouldn't be having so many problems.
"All fallible mortals are to obey God and marry only one person of the opposite sex. There are situations where divorce is permissible but certainly not by the secular laws of today".... "Surely you DO believe the Holy Spirit is alive and well guiding and helping the followers of Christ as well as direct prayer to Christ".... "No matter what your status, be in economic, single, married etc.. God looks after you and if you depend on Him, He will look after you and assist you in following Him. Your marital status is irrelevant when you FOLLOW HIM!"
I absolutely agree with you there. I believe in the teachings of the Bible as much as you, but I simply rely on other venues based off of it for my salvation as well. I'm glad we have some common ground. I am in no way trying to knock down marriage or demean it in anyway. I am as much in favor of it as one can get, but, I believe priests should remain celibate. It was not celibacy that attracted the gays to the Church, it was the culture of the 1960's and 70's. The Holy Spirit is alive and well, and is guiding the Catholic Church forward, as he always has. There were many scandals throughout history, but the fact that the Church still survives and grows stronger as a force for good is a testament for the power behind her.
I think you misunderstood. From the article:
Father Shiundu says his decision to marry her wasn't a difficult one to make: after all, she was already the mother of his two daughters, Natalie (aged six) and Camilla, aged one.
I do not believe that we actually know anything about God. I believe what we think we know, are really just theories, that are relative to our religious beliefs.
Of course, I may be completely wrong, but there apparently is no real proof for any of this, that is acceptable to all.
The Catholic Church agrees with you. When it comes to promoting marriage in today's hedonist world, there is no more constant and enthusiastic advocate than the Catholic Church.
Having children is a blessing from God.......
The Catholic Church agrees with you again. Indeed, Pope Paul VI wrote a prophetic encyclical on this subject in 1968. It's called Humanae Vitae......"Human Life." It would be nice if more Protestant churches were equally as convinced as the Catholic Church of the blessing which children bring.
and that it is NOT required for a man or woman who wish to serve God to remain celibate.
Firstly, there are various forms of service. Read St. Paul's exposition of the doctrine of the Mystical Body of Christ. "Not all are apostles....not all are prophets...." Yet all go together to make up one body. So yes, it is possible for a married man and woman to serve God in a manner appropriate to their state in life. St. Paul goes on to explain, however, the advantages of the celibate state when it comes to serving God. It's a clear and unambiguous description of the beauty of the celibate state. No need for me to reproduce it here but you know the passages I mean.
You see, the requirement for clerical celibacy does not come from a negative view of the sacrament of marriage or a belief that it is not good. On the contrary, it comes from a true appreciation of its beauty for the sacrament of marriage between a man and a woman is a type of the relationship between Jesus and His Church, as St. Paul explains at length in his letter to the Ephesians.
Now the priest, acting in persona Christi as he does, mirrors that relationship to the Church. Thus his marriage is to the Bride of Christ (i.e. the Church), to which he gives himself wholly and unreservedly as Jesus did, spotless and chaste as St. Paul discusses.
Thus, we may serve the Church as married people or celibate people but all for the buillding up of the one body.
Surely you DO believe the Holy Spirit is alive and well guiding and helping the followers of Christ as well as direct prayer to Christ.
Absolutely.
To believe that an action such as NOT marrying makes you "obedient" or "disciplined" is absurd.
Observing chastity is indeed a discipline. It involves mortification of the flesh and not a small measure of Divine grace. Again, the Scriptures are clear on the virtues attached to self-denial.
No matter what your status, be in economic, single, married etc.. God looks after you and if you depend on Him, He will look after you and assist you in following Him. Your marital status is irrelevant when you FOLLOW HIM!
True enough. But that is not the point. We are talking here of the state of celibacy. Both the married and celibate can follow God.....each in a manner befitting their own state.
You are an ignoramus.
You regularly intervene with preachy fundyism in response to practically every Catholic thread as though you actually knew something other than your own pseudo-Scriptural prejudices. My Savior and yours established the Church (the Roman Catholic Church) on Simon bar Jonah whom He renamed Peter. I note that this suggests the reason why you want to claim that Peter was married while he was the Vicar of Christ on Earth. In any event, there are as many theological errors among the "reformed" as there are "reformed" Tom, Dicks and Harriets, each his or her own self-appointed Scriptural "expert."
Note that "reformism" arose finally in the person of an enraged soon-to-be ex-Catholic ex-priest casting a vow-massacring eye upon the convent where Sister Katy resided. Luther founded your "church" (if any) or its lineal predecessor with no help whatsoever from Jesus Christ and no help whatsoever "above."
This suggests that the same Jesus Christ Who wept in the garden at Gethsemane over His knowledge that His flock would not be one (i.e. it would be riven by the "reformation.") allowed mankind to wait 1484 years or so for Luther to come along and desire marriage over vows to God so as to establish God's church. Not bloody likely.
Unlike some of the Catholic hardliners here, I have every expectation that there will be many "reformed" Christians in heaven in spite of the Biblical doctrine that outside the Church there is no salvation. In an attenuated way, the "reformed" seem part of the Church although they may deny it and although they certainly do not enjoy the fullness of the Church (the one and only Church) established by Jesus Christ Himself and guaranteed by Him. You have no Mass, no transubstantiation, no apostolic succession, and, at most, two sacraments (baptism and maybe sacramental marriage), to say nothing of the curious notion that each person is his or her own anarchic substitute for actual Scriptural authority.
BTW, even Luther had a lot more respect for God's Mom than she receives from many of the self-appointed allegedly Scriptural authorities of the "reform."
As I have posted to you previously, I don't remember this kind of guff coming from hundreds of the "reformed" whom I represented as an attorney after their arrests in abortion mill Rescues. Therefore, I would suggest that interested Catholics not blame all of the "reformed" for what you post.
It is a shame that your children and mine do not have Jesuit prep schools (of the old Catholic variety) available to pass these insights to many. Maybe God invented the internet to allow those who were lucky enough to have received that education (Lord, I am an elderly elk!) to spread it here and homeschooling and parent-owned schools to spread it more directly to our own kids.
As ever, God bless you and yours, my lady!
Non-canonical writings, such as the Acts of Peter (2nd Century) claim that Peter's wife was with him in Rome, and that they had at least one child. However, the commentary I'm reading calls this source and others like it "historical novels," so you can take it or leave it.
God bless you and yours, as well, as ever!
That is true, but we have Father John Hardon on tape and Scott Hahn on CD, as well as the incomparable Cardinal Ratzinger, in the print edition.
I've made mother-in-law jokes when reading that Gospel passage, but I'd never given any thought to why Mrs. Peter wasn't around at the time.
And as always, God's blessing on you, good sir, and all your family!
I've read that this doesn't mean that Lutherans, for example, won't get to Heaven because there was only one Church when this was written. Since the Catechism states that those who are not Catholics now will get into Heaven, any hard-liners expressing that view are not in sync with Church teachings.
"When I was ordained a priest I promised to remain celibate, but-like any other promise- you can break it if it isn't working," he says.
Good to know. That will come in handy if I decide to become a con woman.
So in your mind it is ok to break a vow?. Have you spoken to your wife or husband about this? Whether you agree with the discipline of celibacy does not matter. What matters is that when he was ordained as a priest he PROMISED to be celibate. By breaking that promise he became a liar. That is certainly more non Christian then agreeing to a life of celibacy.
You lost me when you made the silly statement that people enter the priesthood for "same sex reasons."
Peddle your Chick tracts elsewhere.
"We CAN excommunicate him from the one and only Church founded by Jesus Christ Himself and guaranteed by Him."
I stopped reading here.
_______________________________________
Good decision.
Peter was married before he met Christ. The other Apostles did not marry and followed the example of Christ.
The Eastern Churches allow for a married priesthood. However, the decision to marry, like St. Peter, must be made before ordination. Marriage is a vow; ordination is also a vow. The first vow predominates. In the Maronite Church, the Patriarch has commented that it is much more difficult to match a married priest to a parish. Even more difficult is relocating a married priest because it disrupts the entire family.
We have had this discussion several times before. I know you don't 'get it' but as long as you continue to post your misunderstandings to catholic threads, we catholics will still attempt to clarify Christ's message. I would also point out that a Catholic priest is quite different in his ministry from a non-catholic christian minister. His ordination descends from Christ Himself.
Kudos on an excellent post!
Ummm....it's not his HEART that he was following...
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