Protest priest seals off church with coffin

A Catholic priest was arrested for blocking a church entrance with a coffin following a dispute with the faithful.

The faithful were shocked when the cleric, Fr Thomas Apil, carried an empty coffin from Mombasa, 75 kilometres away, on Saturday, which he used to block the Taru Catholic Church door on Sunday before conducting Mass with only two people.

Kinango police boss Silas Ringera said the priest, who is in charge of the Taru parish, had to be saved by officers from the wrath of the church members who had rejected him following numerous accusations.

The previous Sunday, the faithful went without Mass after they confronted the priest, locked his house and the church, forcing him to flee to Mombasa. They warned him not to set foot in the parish.

One of the faithful who did not wish to be named, fearing that he could be victimised, said the priest came back on Saturday evening carrying a coffin and was accompanied by two seminarians. He blocked the church entrance with the coffin on Sunday as he conducted Mass only with the two seminarians, added the church member.

Parish council chairman Raphael Galuka led other church members to the Taru Police Station, where they sought protection for the besieged priest.

Fr Apil, who was posted to the parish a year ago to replace Fr Henry Katana, said he had brought the coffin as a symbol of a curse after the faithful had rejected him. The youth, who had roughed him up, dismissed him and called for his removal.

They accused him of “improper association with the opposite sex”. He was also accused of dissolving all the church groups and chose to work with a few individuals. The priest, however, dismissed the allegations.

Mr Galuka recently led a team to Mombasa Archbishop Boniface Lele to request the removal of the priest.

“We cannot go too deep into church matters. We have, therefore, handed over the priest to the church to resolve their differences internally,” Mr Ringera said.