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	Kenya: Catholics Urged to Shun Married Rebel Priests allAfrica June 16, 2009 http://allafrica.com/stories/200906160830.html Nakuru — Kenya's 10 million or so Roman Catholics have been urged by the bishops to shun rebel priests who have left service to marry or to join new churches. Responding to recent media reports of married and deserting priests, the bishops said on Tuesday that they were "saddened by those unfortunate priests who, retaining that special character conferred to them by their priestly ordination, have been unfaithful to the obligations of celibacy they accepted when they were ordained." In a pastoral letter issued at Christ the King Cathedral in Nakuru, the bishops cautioned Catholics not to be deceived by the rebels. "By defecting from the church, they are no longer Catholics". The clerics strongly defended celibacy which has come under severe attack by rebel priests. They said nobody is obliged to accept the clerical requirement. "Jesus did not oblige his apostles to accept it. And even today no Christian is obliged to be a priest. It is a gift freely chosen and accepted by those who feel called." Celibacy, the bishops said, is a precious gift of divine grace given to some Christians to serve God with an undivided heart. "None of us has the right to want to alter or change what was lived by the Lord himself and what has been handed down to us by the popes and the church fathers down the centuries." The bishops reminded the faithful that priestly vows were binding for life and that those who broke them were no longer in union with the rest of the church. Rebel priests who defy church authority incur automatic excommunication. "Every priest swears before almighty God that he will obey his bishop, that he will abide by the law of celibacy and he will be faithful to the teaching of Jesus Christ and his Church," the bishops said. The gift of celibacy is given to the whole church and the faithful should pray for priests, the bishops said. Christians should also foster a deep respect and a delicate reserve in their dealings with priests since they are men entirely consecrated to Christ and to the church.
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