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Catholic World News News Feature

Kenya: breakaway priest forms new sect February 27, 2006

Bishop Maurice Crowley of Kitale, Kenya, has cautioned the faithful about a renegade priest who has formed his own "Reformed Roman Catholic Church."

Father Godfrey Shiundu was suspended from ministry two years ago after it came to light that he had fathered a child through an affair with a nun. The priest subsequently married and later set up his own church.

In a letter to all parishes in the Kitale diocese, Bishop Crowley reported that the splinter group has become a growing sect, attracting other priests who have been suspended by their dioceses. Father Shiundu is reportedly telling priests that if they join his sect that can marry and continue serving as priests.

"It is undesirable that a man who was ordained in our Church and took all vows of chastity and submission has repudiated the Church," wrote Bishop Crowley. Warning that the new sect could mislead the faithful, the bishop encouraged all remaining priests of Kitale to speak out clearly against the breakaway movement.