Some love stories require a collar. Others require its removal. Father Sandro Ferretto chose the latter.
The Italian-born missionary, who once shepherded parishes in Kasiela and Mochongoi, has officially left the Catholic priesthood to marry Sharon Jepngok, a Tugen woman from Baringo South. The union was sealed not in a cathedral, but through a vibrant Koito ceremony—the traditional Kalenjin wedding ritual—in Seretion Village.
Italian Reverend Father leaves Catholic priesthood to wed Kenyan woman
Traditional Tugen attire replaced clerical vestments. Local dances replaced liturgical hymns. The man who arrived in Kenya to evangelise ended up being welcomed into the family of former councillor John Wendot as a son-in-law.
The couple reportedly met during his missionary work in the area. What began as pastoral service blossomed into something no parish could contain.
The ceremony drew family, community members, local leaders, and colleagues—a crowd that witnessed something rare: a priest trading the pulpit for a marriage bed, and doing so with cultural reverence rather than resistance.
Ferretto’s exit from active priesthood marks the end of one calling and the beginning of another. The cassock is retired. The Tugen shuka is on. And a Baringo village just became the setting for a cross-continental love story that no Sunday sermon could have predicted.
