Pastor assignments take effect Aug. 1: Father Jaya Kumar Penugonda

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Father Jaya Kumar Penugonda

On Aug. 1, three priests in the Diocese of Salt Lake City will begin their assignments as pastor or administrator of a new parish. The Intermountain Catholic asked each priest four questions to introduce them to their new parishioners. Father Jaya Kumar Penugonda's answers follow.

Father Jaya Kumar Penugonda was born in Narasapuram, India and raised in that country. Following high school, he attended Dantuluri Narayana Raju (DNR) College and then the seminary.

Fr. Jay, as he prefers to be called, was ordained a priest on May 5, 2012, by Bishop Mallavarapu Prakash for the Diocese of Eluru and served as parochial vicar for four years in that diocese before being named pastor, a position he held at several parishes over the next seven years. He came to the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 2022, where he first was appointed as parochial vicar of the Cathedral of the Madeleine, then of Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Orem. In 2023 he was assigned as chaplain to the University of Utah Medical Center, Primary Children’s Hospital and Huntsman Cancer Institute, as well as returning to the Cathedral of the Madeleine as parochial vicar.  

Fr. Jay speaks Telugu, English and Hindi. Since coming to the United States, he has been working on Spanish and Italian.

On Aug. 1 he will begin his new assignment as administrator of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Salt Lake City.

What would you like your new parishioners to know about you?

Greetings of peace and joy to you from Fr. Jaya Kumar Penugonda. Please call me Fr. Jay.  I am happy and excited to work with you all at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church as an administrator, and as the chaplain at Judge Memorial Catholic High School.

What are you looking forward to most about your new assignment?

I am looking forward to helping all the parishioners by celebrating the Holy Mass and administering the holy sacraments.

As a priest, what has been your greatest challenge?

Adapting to the American way and learning yet another language, Spanish. And also now I am working on new languages like Korean and Tagalog.

As a priest, what has been your most satisfying experience?

The most satisfying experience for me is to see the joy and happiness in the faces of all the sick people and especially the gratefulness of the members of the family and the hospital staff while taking care of the hospital ministry; and also preaching the Word of God at the Cathedral of the Madeleine.