Man hangs himself in Nairobi church on 'doomsday'

[muriel_volestrangler]

The victim reportedly made his way into a store at the Holy Family Basilica in Nairobi, hours before American evangelist Harold Camping had predicted the world would end at 6 p.m. Witnesses say the man entered the prayer sanctuary during the early morning mass.
...
The body was found at 9 a.m. Police took it away. The man’s identity, age or reasons for taking his own life could not be immediately established.

Peter Kamau, the priest in charge, told the Sunday Nation that this is the first time anyone had chosen Holy Family Basilica to end their life.

Mr Camping’s prediction that the world would end in a huge earthquake was received differently throughout the country.

The Sunday Nation

No, we don't know for sure that he did it because of the kook's PR stunt. But if it's the first suicide in the church, it does look like more than a coincidence.

[dimbear]

1. Today is not just Judgment Day. Today is

bad judgment day.

[YankeyMCC]

2. I heard an interview of a couple this morning

They believed whole heartedly that today was the day. They described how they had some savings they didn't really do any long term planning for retirement or other matters.

It can not be easy for the people who have such an idea of certainty about this when this doesn't happen. There are several paths they can take after today, rationalization, despair, anger, none of which will be easy for them. I hope they find a way to be happy.

The woman in was pregnant and the baby is due in June, I wondered how that fit into their belief and I hope that the baby will be a source of happiness for them after today.

[struggle4progress]

3. Catholic doctrine forbids suicide and doesn't include "The Rapture"

[ZombieHorde]

6. I was raised Catholic, in a Catholic school in a Catholic neighborhood,

and I have to agree with you. I did not even know what the rapture was until I move out on my own. Suicide was considered a really big no-no too.

[sakabatou]

4. Sad

[struggle4progress]

5. I found no update to the story. One Kenyan paper gives the priest's name as "Simon Peter"

Man commits suicide at Kenyan church
BY JUDIE KABERIA
Updated : 1days and 11 hours and 26 minutes ago
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 21 ... According to the Priest in Charge Father Simon Peter, the man believed to be between 30 and 40 years old was found hanging in the store of the church at around 8am in the morning ... http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Kenyanews/Man-commits-suicide-at-Kenyan-church-12878.html

"Basilica" of course denotes an archdiocese. This website, supposedly listing appointments at the church, suggests there is a Bishop David Kamau Ng’ang’a, but lists no Peter Kamau:
Metropolitan Archdiocese of Nairobi
http://www.gcatholic.com/dioceses/diocese/nair0.htm