A Hungarian Catholic priest has shot to Youtube fame with a distinctive new method of spreading the Gospel: skateboarding.  The Reverend Zoltan Lendvai, 45, lives and preaches in Redics, a small village on Hungary's border with Slovenia, the Telegraph writes.

 He began skateboarding at the age of 14, but it wasn't until he became a priest that he realised that his boyhood hobby might be more effective than sermons in drawing young people to church.

The video of Lendvai coasting in full clerical garb has attracted 240,000 views on Youtube, and now has a music version. But has the priest's kick-flip or switch stance helped convert reluctant youths? Lendvai says three teenage boys who never attended church started coming regularly after he showed off his skateboarding tricks.

"Many times I have felt that this is the way I can bring more people a bit closer to Jesus," he told Reuters news agency.