An Italian-born former Catholic priest, Sandro Ferretto, has made headlines after leaving active priestly ministry to marry Sharon Jepng’ok, a Tugen woman from Baringo South, in a colourful traditional Koito ceremony.
His story joins a long list of Catholic priests around the world who have left active ministry and chosen family life, either through the formal process of leaving the clerical state or by joining other Christian denominations or independent Catholic movements that permit married clergy.
Sandro Ferretto, 55, was ordained a Catholic priest for the Diocese of Padua in Italy and spent about 12 years serving as a missionary in Kenya, including in Kasiela and Mochongoi in Baringo County.
He reportedly began his missionary work in Kenya in 2008.
He met Sharon Jepng’ok while carrying out missionary work in the Baringo region. Sharon is the daughter of former councillor John Wendot.
On Sunday, September 6, 2026, the couple held a colourful Koito ceremony at Seretion Village in Kasiela, blending Ferretto’s Italian background with Sharon’s Tugen traditions.
The ceremony brought together relatives, community elders, local leaders and friends.
Ferretto had previously returned to Italy after his missionary assignment in Kenya. By 2023, he was serving in a pastoral unit in Saletto, Borgo Veneto.
Reports from that period said he had stepped away from the role for a period of reflection. More recent reports describe him as having left active priestly ministry before returning to Kenya to marry Sharon.
What Catholic law says about priests and marriage
Under Latin Catholic canon law, clerics are bound by the obligation of celibacy. A Catholic priest cannot validly marry while he remains a cleric.
Canon law provide for the loss of the clerical state, but leaving the clerical state does not automatically remove the obligation of celibacy.
A dispensation from the obligation of celibacy must also be granted by the Pope.
The process by which a priest leaves the clerical state is commonly known as laicization. Once a priest has been formally dismissed from the clerical state, he is no longer permitted to exercise priestly ministry.
However, ordination itself is considered permanent, meaning the sacramental character of ordination is not erased.
A priest who wishes to leave active ministry and marry therefore needs the appropriate permissions from the Catholic Church.
Without the necessary dispensation, a cleric’s attempted marriage is considered invalid under Catholic canon law.
In Ferretto’s case, his exact canonical status has not been publicly confirmed by the Diocese of Padua.
It is therefore more accurate to describe him as having left active priestly ministry rather than state definitively that he has been formally laicized.
In Kenya, some former Catholic priests have taken a different route by joining independent or breakaway Catholic movements that permit married clergy.
One example is the Renewed Universal Catholic Church in Kenya, founded by former Catholic priest Peter Njogu.
The church has ordained former Roman Catholic priests who had married after leaving the Roman Catholic Church.
Another example is Father Edwin Gathang’i Waiguru, who left the Roman Catholic Church and joined the Catholic Charismatic Church.
In October 2023, he married Margaret Wanjira Githui in Kiambu County and was subsequently ordained within the splinter church. He said he had felt the need to marry and have a family after years of celibacy.
Father Godfrey Shiundu also left the Roman Catholic Church and married former nun Stella Nangila in 2006.
He later became associated with the Ecumenical Catholic Church of Christ, a breakaway Catholic movement.
Father John Njogu, another former Roman Catholic priest, was excommunicated in 2002 following his relationship with Berith Karimi. He later married Karimi and founded the Renewed Universal Catholic Church, which permits married priests.
Outside Kenya, there are several well-known examples of Catholic priests who left the priesthood or Catholic Church and later married.
Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo of Zambia married Maria Sung in a 2001 ceremony associated with the Unification Church.
The marriage eventually led to his excommunication after he refused to comply with Vatican demands to separate from his wife.
Father Alberto Cutié, a prominent Catholic priest and television personality in the United States, left the Roman Catholic Church in 2009 and joined the Episcopal Church.
He subsequently married Ruhama Buni Canellis and continued his ministry as an Episcopal priest.
The Rev. Thomas Groome, an Irish-American theologian and former Catholic priest, also left the diocesan priesthood after years of ministry.
He received an official dispensation, married Colleen Griffith in 1985 and went on to build a distinguished career in religious education and theology.
Francis MacNutt, a former Dominican priest and prominent figure in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, left the Dominican Order in 1980 to marry Judith Carole Sewell. The couple later established Christian Healing Ministries.
In Nigeria, former Catholic priest Mike Boni Bazza left the priesthood after about 25 years and married Ratilla Ussa in Kaduna in 2019.
Married priests in the Catholic Church
Although celibacy remains the general rule for priests in the Latin Catholic Church, there are exceptions.
Since 1980, the Catholic Church has allowed certain married former Anglican clergy who enter full communion with Rome to be considered for ordination as Catholic priests under special provisions.
In 2009, Pope Benedict XVI established personal ordinariates for groups of Anglicans entering the Catholic Church, allowing married former Anglican ministers to be considered for Catholic priesthood under specific conditions and with the approval of the Holy See.
These exceptions do not change the general rule of celibacy for Latin-rite Catholic priests.
Father Sandro’s wedding, like the stories of other priests who have left Catholic ministry to marry, highlights the intersection of love, culture, faith and personal choice.
His journey from an Italian missionary priest in Baringo to a groom taking part in a traditional Tugen Koito ceremony marks a striking new chapter in his life.