As a DJ, priest cues up faith, music for global youth
Roman Catholic priest Guilherme Peixoto plays a set, together with the Portuguese Army Symphonic Band, during Army Day celebrations in northern Portugal in late October. Peixoto plans to continue to improve his DJ skills to bring a Christian message to audiences who might have never heard of Jesus — while remaining committed to all regular parish activities.
(AP Photo/Miguel Angelo Pereira)
LAÚNDOS, Portugal (AP) — Guilherme Peixoto, a village priest in northern Portugal, has been busy this month celebrating Masses at his two parishes, presiding over remembrances for the dead — and preparing the electronic music set for his next international DJ gig.
What started nearly two decades ago as a novel way to fundraise for the local churches has become essential to the ministry of this 49-year-old Catholic priest in a rapidly secularizing continent where religious practice is dropping fast — especially among young people.
"With electronic music I can take some message, I can be where young people are," Peixoto said a few days after returning to Laúndos from playing at a large Halloween festival in Italy. "They can think, 'If it's possible for a priest to be DJ, it's possible for me to like music, and festivals, and be Christian.'"
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