'Rapper priest' suspended by Catholic Church in Kenya

Father "Sweet Paul" Ogallo has been suspended by the Catholic Church in Kenya for rapping during Mass sermons. (Doreen Ajiambo)

A Roman Catholic diocese in Kenya has suspended a parish priest for rapping during Mass sermons, the BBC reported Monday.

The suspension bars Father Paul "Sweet Paul" Ogalo from saying Mass in public or administering Holy Communion for a year.

The sacred and the secular could not mix, Bishop Philip Anyolo of the Homa Bay Diocese in western Kenya told the BBC.

Anyolo said Ogalo can use rap to preach to young people - just not on the altar.

Last month Ogalo told the BBC that "young people call me 'Sweet Paul' because I rap sweet."

“We have suspended him for a year to give him time to reconsider his ways,” another diocesan official, Father Charles Kochiel, told the Catholic News Service in a report from Kenya Saturday.

Kochiel said Ogalo should have consulted higher-ups to find out if what he was doing was in accordance with church doctrine.

“Ah! Ah! Yeah! Youths enjoy your youth while you are still young. But remember that God is going to judge you for whatever you do … Ah…,” Ogalo would rap as congregants and nuns at St Monica Church in western Kenya swayed to the beat, according to the news service.

“I use the rap music to bring … youths to the church,” Father Ogalo said. “Thereafter, I bring them to Christ.”