Deacon Paul Kongnyuy embraces ‘priestly heart’

Note: Archbishop William E. Lori will ordain eight men to the priesthood June 24 at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. The following is a profile of one of those future priests. New profiles of the other new priests will be added to the Catholic Review site daily from June 15 to June 22. Click here to read them. 

Inside his room at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Roland Park, Deacon Paul Kongnyuy keeps a small piano he bought online. He plays music to relax and process the day. To him, the white keys represent happiness and the black keys, sadness; together, they make the music of life.

“When I talk to God, I play mostly the white keys,” said Deacon Kongnyuy, a native of Cameroon in West Africa. “The day cannot pass without me singing. When I play music, I feel inner peace and when you sing, you pray twice.”

Deacon Kongnyuy, 29, plays the piano only for himself and God, but when he preaches at Our Lady of Victory in Arbutus, he often begins his homilies with a song. He’s spent his diaconate year at the suburban Baltimore parish, which is the final step in his journey to priesthood. He moved from his home in Cameroon to the United States in 2017 to complete seminary through a partnership between the Archbishop of Baltimore and the bishop of the Diocese of Kumbo. He came along with his identical twin brother, Father Peter Kiamo-oh, who was ordained a priest last year and serves as associate pastor at St. Ignatius in Hickory.

As a priest, Deacon Kongnyuy says his primary role will be as a teacher and evangelizer who shares the word of God at every opportunity. He knew he wanted to be a priest since he was about 13 or 14. His future came to him as a vision. A man he didn’t know grabbed his arm and declared of Deacon Kongnyuy: “He will be a great priest.”

“Since that day, I have always longed for this and prayed for it,” Deacon Kongnyuy said. “I am not becoming a priest because I want to live an easy life. I want to be a priest because I want to serve people.”

Father Michael J. Roach, former pastor of St. Bartholomew in Manchester, says Deacon Kongnyuy is a skilled preacher. The two first met when Deacon Kongnyuy was on pastoral assignment at St. Bartholomew before Father Roach’s retirement last year. Since then, Father Roach has been a mentor to the younger man.

“He has a priestly heart,” Father Roach said. “It is not a heart that is self-centered. I am delighted to see him as a priest. He is a great gift to the archdiocese.”

Deacon Kongnyuy’s joy, positive attitude and attentiveness draws people to him, including children when he is leading a game on the soccer field or volleyball court, Father Roach said. He has known the deacon since shortly after his arrival in the country. He laughed remembering when he took Deacon Kongnyuy to get his driver’s license, an experience Father Roach said reminded him of when his own father taught him to drive.

Deacon Kongnyuy’s father died when he and his brother were very young, and they were raised by their mother and an aunt. He was educated in Catholic schools and baptized at age 12. (Deacon Kongnyuy and his brother, Father Kiamo-oh, have different surnames based on naming traditions in Cameroon.)

In the years since he moved to Baltimore, Deacon Kongnyuy said he has felt welcome. He did not find the transition from Cameroon to the U.S. difficult, in part because he says he is a very sociable person. He said he approaches all relationships with the wisdom of St. Augustine, “Love God first – and then love everybody and everything else for the sake of God.”

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