A priest in Kenya has been suspended for a year because he happened to rap to members of his Congregation, something the Bishops in his Diocese believe is not in line with Church Doctrine. With all due respect, this Church and others who feel the same need to get with the times. I’ve said many times before that the Church needs to reform because things have changed and continue to. It’s 2018 and certainly different from Peter and Saul’s time. What worked then may not be as effective now. There was a time Sermons were delivered in Latin but not anymore because just a small fraction of Catholics speak and understand it. Are you going to insist on preaching to Arabs, Asians and Africans in Latin? Why not use a language they understand? The end justifies the means in this case. You want to get your message across to a certain group of people so you come down to their level and use whatever means available. The suspended Priest wasn’t being vulgar or using inappropriate language. He wasn’t encouraging them to get high or hit the next bar. In fact, he’s been steering them away from those very issues. Plus, it’s not like he was rapping to the entire Congregation every single Sunday. Just the young people and he was doing it after Mass! I don’t see anything wrong with that. With more serious crimes being committed in Church these days, and I’m not saying this specific one but the institution in general, including abuse of children, deception and misuse of funds, shouldn’t more effort and attention be dedicated to addressing those instead of berating a well meaning Man of God who only wants to set the youths in his Parish on the right path? I think the Church needs to be more flexible. This man wasn’t rapping to 90 or 100 year olds, no offence to anyone in that age group but how long do you think teens and young people will continue to sit through long Sermons in this era when getting off their Smartphones for 5 Minutes is one of the hardest things they have to do? It’s like people who judge others for not making the Sunday Service in the first place. I like that several Churches, especially Evangelicals and Born-agains have embraced live Streaming so members of their Congregation can enjoy the Service at work, home or during long trips if they happen to be travelling. It’s good to go to Church but if for one reason or another you can’t make it, it should be perfectly fine to follow the Service however you can. In my opinion, Churches should just be happy people still turn up. If they continue to be rigid, they risk pushing potential Churchgoers away. And doesn’t the Bible call on us to “Come as we’re?” That basically means that different people are going to show up and you may have to approach them differently. If I owned a Church, I’d definitely hire Father Paul Ogalo!
