Funeral Set For Late Joliet Priest

JOLIET, IL — Funeral services are set for a Catholic priest who died unexpectedly last weekend.

Fr. Anthony Nyamai, who was currently pastor at St. Carlo Acutis Parish in Crest Hill, was just weeks away from beginning a new assignment as parochial vicar at St. Mary Nativity in Joliet when he was found dead last weekend.

According to St. Carlos Acustis parish, visitation for Nyamai, 50, is scheduled for 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday, June 21, at the church, 705 Burry Circle Drive.

He will lie in state from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday, June 22, at the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus, 604 N. Raynor Ave. in Joliet, before a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m.

Nyamai's body will be flown back to his native Nairobi, Kenya, for burial, the parish said.

For the past five years, Nyamai was assigned to Crest Hill, overseeing the parishes of St. Anne and Ambrose.

The diocese said Fr. Nestor Lopez has been named to take over as the new parochial administrator of St. Carlo Acutis effective July 1. Fr. Nyamai's death now means that interim bishop Dennis Spies will have to make a new assignment for St. Mary Nativity.

According to his obituary, Nyamai attended Consolata Seminary in Nairobi, where he received his degree in philosophy.

"While discerning priesthood, his friend, Fr. Clive Otieno, who was a deacon at the time, arranged for Fr. Anthony to meet Fr. Burke Masters, who was the Diocese of Joliet Vocation Director at the time," his obituary shared. "Fr. Anthony applied to the Diocese of Joliet and was accepted and came to study at Mundelein Seminary for Joliet. Fr. Anthony was ordained a priest on May 26, 2018, by Bishop R. Daniel Conlon at the Cathedral of St. Raymond in Joliet."

Nyamai, "known for his calm, humble, and joyful demeanor," served at St. Mary Parish in West Chicago until 2021, when he became pastor at St. Anne and St. Ambrose in Crest Hill.

Last year, after the two parishes were combined and St. Anne's was closed, the combined parish was renamed the St. Carlo Acutis Parish.