Catholic Priest Converts to Livestream DJ During Coronavirus Outbreak
Apr 8, 2020 | by Will Mitchell
By now, many of us around the world have spent several weeks living under lockdown, twiddling our thumbs or grimacing through painful ‘could-have-been-an-email’ Zoom meetings. With no clear end in sight—excluding Wuhan residents who were finally released on Wednesday—it’s unsurprising that people are turning to more inventive ways to pass their time.
One man who’s been making the most of his time in isolation is Guilherme Peixoto, a Roman Catholic Priest in Northern Portugal. Peixoto is not your average cleric, preferring hardstyle to hymns... In fact, his passion for music is so intense that he even asked Pope Francis to bless his headphones whilst visiting the Vatican last year.
Now that COVID-19 has brought large gatherings to a temporary halt, Peixoto has joined the ranks of people entertaining the masses from behind the screen of his computer. As soon as it hits evening on Friday or Sunday, Póvoa de Varzim’s answer to Martin Garrix throws on a T-shirt and starts blasting out the tunes for his audience on social media.
“Right now it’s so important to use social media to bring a bit of joy into people’s lives,” he said to Reuters. “And people seem happy when they see a priest playing music online.”
His living room is decked out with fairy lights, turntables and flamboyant décor especially for the occasion.
“Priests are now starting to understand the importance of these channels,” Peixoto said. “This could revolutionize the church – it absolutely could.”
Italian Priest Turns on Filters During Mass
Whilst he might be the only Priest with a livestream DJ residency, Peixoto isn’t the only man of God to go digital during the pandemic. Several videos have gone viral recently, showing Italian Priests accidentally switching on Facebook Live’s filters during online Mass services.
Written by Will | April 8, 2020
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