The Anglican Church of Ghana has condemned an incident in which a priest allegedly kissed some female students.
It follows a viral video in which Father Obeng Larbi was captured kissing three students of the St. Monica’s College of Education in the Ashanti region.
The video shows the priest on stage inviting the three students for a mouth-to-mouth kiss, one after the other, after directing the students to drop their face masks for the kiss.
According to a student, Father Obeng Larbi during a service last Sunday decided to kiss the final-year students for their years of service, reading the Bible during church services.
Greet one another with a holy kiss, so that the faithful will rejoice. Mwaah! #Whew® pic.twitter.com/I3FJrt7TeQ
— Johnnie Hughes, TBG (@hughes_onair) August 16, 2021
The anonymous student said authorities of the school are currently looking for the student who recorded and circulated the video.
“The father in the video kissing the students didn’t know we were going to post the video. We were not comfortable with the situation that’s why we were shouting,” the student said.
She added that “This is the first time he’s doing this. He gave the school chaplain a kiss and then did same to the 3 female Bible readers. The third girl the father kissed is a virgin and that’s why she gave her cheek to the father to kiss but he forced and kissed her lips. Afterward the incident, she said the father had broken her virginity.”
In a statement, the Anglican Church said investigations into the incident have started and appropriate sanction will apply.
Anglican Church speaks on “Holy Kiss” pic.twitter.com/y38uNVOSjm
— Serwaa Amihere (@Serwaa_Amihere) August 17, 2021
On social media, Ghanaians have been reacting to the incident.
And the bloggers who tagged this “holy kiss” are you ok?
Do you understand how this caption trivializes the issue?
Even if the students are cheering that doesn’t make it right either.
— miss forson (@lydiaforson) August 17, 2021
1. With or without Covid, what the priest did was wrong. The students did not consent to the kiss. At worse, he assaulted them.
2. This defense of a priest sexually assaulting some students with “the Bible says greet each other with a holy kiss” is awful and dishonest.
— Nana Ama Agyemang Asante (@JustNanaAma) August 17, 2021
GHS should immediately test “Holy kiss” priest and the girls involved for coronavirus If he is found to be positive he should be criminally charged He should also be criminally charged for breaching covid protocols The Church should also charge him for moral misconduct #JoySMS
— PovertyAid (@acegawsu) August 18, 2021
There’s nothing wrong with a Holy kiss as far as the Bible is concerned. So as a Christian if you’re outraged by just the kiss and not Covid-19 then you don’t know your Bible. Christians need to learn from the Taliban. Lol.
Not everything in the Bible is ok and applicable— Aboagye, Larbi (@levelGH) August 18, 2021
Source: Africafeeds.com
