Gradually, the oath of celibacy taken by Catholic priests is under assault. Not only are some rebel priests having affairs with women, some have broken away to form their own Catholic Church. In

Rebel Kenyan Catholic Priest, Father Godfrey Silvester Siundu, wedded on Sunday 14th May, 2006 with hundreds of his new Reformed Roman Catholic Church members in attendance.

Siundu wedded Stella Nangila Simiyu at the Kitale ASK Show ground, in a ceremony presided over by the RCC world leader, Archbishop Dr Karl Raimund Rodig. Rodig is also currently engaged and expecting to wed soon. Apart from RCC members, members of the public also flocked the venue to witness the priest's wedding. The move has already been condemned by the Catholic Church.

The Kitale Catholic Bishop, Maurice Crowley was quoted by the Sunday Standard saying he was not impressed by what he calls "this new sect". "It has no connection with our church and I forbid Catholics from attending the sect's activities," Crowley was quoted as saying. Security was tight at the venue of the wedding, with armed police keeping vigil under the command of the Trans-Nzoia police boss, Anthony Kimatu.

Siundu and his bridal team arrived at the show ground at about 12.30 pm accompanied by choirs and Isukuti drummers from Western province. Within one-and-a-half hours, he had tied the knot with Stella, to the ululations of hundreds of those in attendance. As the wedding went on, Catholics at the Immaculate Conception Church in Kitale town, about 100 metres away, were busy with their services. Controversy over celibacy While presiding over the wedding, Dr Karl defended the RCC, saying it was not out to abandon celibacy. "Sometimes back, members of the Catholic Church in Europe wanted reforms to make celibacy optional and give women more rights.

About five million signed a petition to the Vatican, but they were disregarded and I decided to assist them by launching the RCC in the United States," said Rodig, a German. Rodig welcomed hundreds of priests who had left the Catholic Church due to the controversy over celibacy to join the RCC and enjoy marriage. He said he would also wed Gabrila, his girlfriend of many years, but did not specify when.

He said God created man and woman to help in procreation and that 11 out of the 12 Apostles at the start of the church were married. "We are currently in 11 countries, with over 400,000 followers across the globe. We have ordained 17 Bishops and 80 per cent of our priests are married while the remaining 20 per cent are celibates," he said. Rodig said the RCC had about 2,500 members in Kenya, mostly concentrated in Western Kenya. "Kenya is the only African country where the RCC has membership. We have so far ordained 10 priests and five deacons.

We are likely to ordain a bishop soon as the church grows," he said. Father Siundu was born to Maurice Wasike and Sabina Nasipwondi in Trans-Nzoia district in 1968. He went to Sikhendu Primary School in the same district before joining the Eldoret-based Mother of Apostles Seminary and later Mary's Senior Seminary Molo for priestly training, which he completed in 1987. Misunderstanding with church Siundu later joined the St Augustine's Senior Seminary, Mabanga in Bungoma district for philosophical studies and completed in 1989. He then studied theology at St Thomas Aquinas Seminary in Nairobi.

After graduating from Aquinas and later from Urban University in Rome with a Bachelor of Theology, he was ordained as a deaconate in Kiminini parish, Trans-nzoia on June 12, 1993 and later ordained to the sacred order of priesthood. He has served in Eldoret diocese's parishes of Kapsabet, Ndalat, Burnt Forest, Tinduiyo, Endo, Chesogich and later Kitale diocese. In 2002, he left Kitale diocese after some misunderstanding with the church leadership and joined Makerere University to study law, but dropped out after two years of study. He then established a Children's Home in Kitale and a year later, applied to Rodig to be incardinated.

On October 27, 2005, he was appointed the RCC's Parish priest of St Lawrence, Kitale. Siundu met Stella in 1997 at Endo Mission Hospital in Marakwet district and they have remained friends since then. Local church leaders in Kitale, led by Pastor Moses Zewedi of the Lives Changing Church, described the wedding as a great success. "Siundu's wedding is a good example to the rest of the Catholic church priests who are willing to marry and have children," said Pastor Zewedi after the wedding.

* Culled from Standard Newspaper Kenya.