Bishop Joseph Kagunda, center front, and clergy of the Mount Kenya West Diocese during a Sept. 10, 2015 news conference that announced the suspension of priests over alleged gay sex. Religion News Service photo by Fredrick Nzwili

NAIROBI, Kenya (RNS) As the worldwide Anglican Communion struggles with how to treat gays in the church, the Anglican Church of Kenya has revoked a priest’s license and suspended four others over alleged gay sex.

The church created a diocesan tribunal after four young men, all over 18, claimed they were lured into gay sex by senior clergymen.

“I feel pain about this knowing (Kenyan) Anglican bishops have been very clear that they are against the gay practices,” Bishop Joseph Kagunda said after the release of the tribunal’s verdict Thursday (Sept. 10) in Nyeri.

Kagunda said the tribunal found one of the priests guilty and stripped him of his clergy credentials after examining the evidence by witnesses and his defense.

Some of the priests confessed and received suspensions ranging from three months to three years. One of the priests was suspended indefinitely.

READ: On rites and rights: I performed my first gay wedding

The priests were working in the Mount Kenya West Diocese in central Kenya, where there are thousands of Anglicans.

Sources within the church say the young clerics are married and have children, but practiced homosexuality in secret.

“They have a right to appeal,” said Kagunda. “We are also giving them an opportunity to repent and reform their ways.”

In the conservative Anglican province, church leaders and many of their followers reject homosexual practices as against biblical teaching and African culture.

YS/AMB END NZWILI