Father Guilherme, the priest DJ who ignited Lisbon’s WYD

When he arrives behind his turntables, the crowd hurries towards the stage. “Padre Guilherme!” Padre Guilherme! She chants in the heart. Helmet on the ears and Roman pass around suddenly, the artist detonates. For seventeen years, Father Guilherme Peixoto, 49, exercises another activity in addition to his duties at the parish: Disc-Jockey (DJ).

Yet nothing predestined the little Guilherme to turn to music. He wanted to be priest. But when he enters the seminar, the young man integrates several groups: one of rock, the other of popular songs. And on weekends, he has a nightclub “always attending masses and lessons the week of course,” he said.

But this hobby changes little by little towards the livelihood. In 2006, freshly arrived at the head of the Church of Laundos, in Povoa de Varzim, in the north of Portugal, he inherited a indebted parish. He then comes the idea of ​​opening a bar, which he called Ar de Rock Laundos, where volunteer parishioners serve consumption when others organize karaoke.

Father Guilherme gets caught up in the game … and returns to his old passion by trying out to the turntables in front of the customers. He learns about the heap but wants more. The neophyte then enrolled in a DJ school to become a professional.

He has been ten years later in front of hundreds of people – including many JMJists – in the city of Rio de Mouro 20 km from about Lisbon.

You have to see it, dancing from one foot to the other, with its right arm gesturing in rhythm on electronic music (synthetic sounds issued using machines and computers).

“I want to show young people a vision of the world, tell them that on the dance floor we are all the same. During some melodies, the artist even broadcast messages from Pope Francis and John Paul II. “It is a mixture of faith, the message of God and music,” he enthuses.

“I have always had the confidence of my bishops”

But his lifestyle seems far from unanimous, causing a few stir in some outreted faithful to see “a priest playing in a nightclub”. But Father Guilherme hardly erases his mischievous smile: “I have always had the confidence of my bishops and I want to continue,” he said. So, the parish priest goes through the dialogue by explaining to his detractors that he “applies the message of François: to go where young people are”.

But beware, the man of God imposes certain rules: avoiding playing Saturdays to ensure mass the next day, and if the opportunity is too tempting, he always manages to find a replacement priest. “My goal is not to desert the Church,” he insists.

At the end of the concert, the young audience welcomes him as a real local star. Everyone tries to make their way to him to immortalize his moment with this atypical DJ. The jeans and sneakers priest lends itself with pleasure to the sessions of selfies and dedications, some of which on the flocked sweaters of the LPG logo! Vasco, a 17 -year -old Catholic Portuguese exalts: “He breaks the stereotypes and shows that the church continues to evolve, it’s unique! »»

So, before the big mass of Pope Francis Sunday, August 6, 2023, the biggest fans found Father Guilherme. A meeting made at 7:30 am! It was his first “service” of the day, before returning … behind his altar.