49-Year-Old Portuguese Catholic Priest Combines Faith with EDM for International DJ Sets

There’s a new kind of holy sound when the Portuguese Catholic Priest combines faith with edm.

What started over 20 years ago to help fundraise for local churches has given Portuguese village priest Guilherme Peixoto a way to connect with the youth. As the Catholic Priest combines faith with EDM, he brings the message of Christ to a community where religious practice is decreasing at a fast speed among the youth.

Peixoto first was sent to Portugal to pay off a debt from renovations to the main church. To do so, he called on youth choirs to kickstart karaoke fundraisers to bring in the cash. Once this worked and the debts were paid off, Peixoto saw the ability that music had to raise knowledge about Jesus and started taking professional DJ classes.

A recent study by Eduardo DuqueIn, a professor at the Catholic Portuguese University in Braga, found that about half of the youth in Portugal have no religion. Most youth participated in fewer services and had less confidence in the Church. To improve this decline in religious belief in the youth, Peixoto planned multiple different sets internationally to spread a Christian message, as well as improve his skills as a DJ.

While the priest enjoys music, it has been made clear that his sole intent of DJ’ing is to bring the word of Jesus to people who have not heard of him through music. To perform internationally allowed the DJ to take this message on a global scale in places that aren’t just churches and spiritual activities.

Recently, the priest went to Laúndos to perform at a 30,000-person Halloween festival in Italy. To perform in front of a crowd like this, Peixoto stated that people in the crowd think, “If it’s possible for a priest to be DJ, it’s possible for me to like music, and festivals, and be Christian.”

Once the Halloween set ended, Peixoto and his team ran to the airport to get back for the Mass for All Saints and All Souls celebration. He wanted to make sure that even though he is a DJ, he needed to continue being “the shepherd of the community.”