St. Thomas More parishioners named Knights of Columbus 2022 Family of the Year

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The Masumbe-Netongo family accepts the Family of the Year award from Knights of Columbus State Deputy Nick Nielson, at left.

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS —While attending Mass at St. Thomas More Catholic Church in Cottonwood Heights five years ago, Palmer Masumbe-Netongo noticed a group of men providing service and wondered who they were.

They told him they were members of the Catholic fraternal organization the Knights of Columbus. “So I said, ‘This is a good thing to join,” said Masumbe, who now is a Fourth Degree Knight, the highest rank within the organization. In addition, his family was named the 2022 Utah Knights of Columbus Family of the Year.

When he was introduced to the Knights in 2017, Masumbe had been in Utah for only a few months. He moved here from Cameroon to pursue a position as an exchange professor in molecular parasitology at the University of Utah. Since that position ended, he has been working as an assistant professor at Navajo Technical University in New Mexico as he looks for work in the Beehive State.

Although his life was very busy, immediately after the encounter, he decided to became a Knight. In five months, he progressed through the ranks. With his extensive background in education, it was natural for him to do what it took to advance and be able to have a voice in the organization, Masumbe said. Opportunities to advance also presented themselves, he said. “It was God’s plan that it was that way and my own drive in never stopping mid-way until I got to the end.”

During the pandemic, Masumbe participated with his council online. These days as the group has moved back to in-person meetings, it is more difficult because he isn’t always in town, he admits. “Now that it’s getting back to normalcy, I’m beginning to feel that I’m really missing out.”

Still, Masumbe has been very involved with the council and the parish despite living in New Mexico three weeks of each month. In addition to his involvement with the Knights, he is a lector and fills several other positions at the parish. During the pandemic, he used his medical background and education to help the parish develop safety and cleaning protocols.

“I thought that was something natural I should contribute,” he said.

Service is important to the family. Masumbe and his wife, Marceline, have seven children: two girls in college, two girls in high school, two boys in middle school and one boy in elementary. The three youngest children are altar servers. Masumbe is a cradle Catholic; Marceline converted to the faith after they married.

Marceline Masumbe is an active member of the parish’s women’s group and participates in the Bible Study group. She leads the rosary after Mass alongside her husband, and supports all the Knights events and activities.

“We thought that these were things that should just be naturally done,” Palmer Masumbe said. “It is important to serve. We have managed to find the balance of serving in church with other activities. We don’t see it as something that you’re compelled to do; it is something that you naturally have to do in the life of the Church.”

The Knights have provided more than an opportunity to serve, Masumbe said. After leaving their native Cameroon due to the social and political unrest in the country, the Masumbes were looking for a home where their family could thrive. The Knights of Columbus and their parish have given them much more than that, he said. “They didn’t just open up to say, ‘Hey, this is St. Thomas More.’ They said, ‘You are in the U.S.; you belong here with us. We are your family.’”

Being welcomed into the parish and the local Knights council has helped the Masumbes integrate into American society, he said. “It has been a soft landing to avoid that kind of culture shock.”

Being part of the Knights of Columbus and their parish, the Masumbe family feels blessed.

“It is important to serve,” Palmer Masumbe said. “We have managed to find the balance of serving in church with other activities. At some point it just comes naturally.”

“I’m grateful to God that my children have been able to absorb the Catholic values that we’ve been trying to impart on them and that they’re trying to make their own contributions,” he said. “I’m thankful to God for being able to be needed and serving as an example of a Catholic family and Catholic faith.”

Masumbe feels humbled that his family was chosen for the award. “For us it was the little things that we do; we didn’t know it would be recognized by something major like being awarded the Family of the Year,” he said. “It’s just our normal contributions towards the life of the Church.”