LEWISTON — Kyle Doustou knew he wanted to be a priest after his first visit to the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul.

He was 9.

The grand church — “I thought it was a castle” — and his front-row vantage of the priest during Mass overwhelmed him. He went home and tried to recreate what he saw.

“I grabbed some Cheez-Its and Kool-Aid, plugged in one of those electric Christmas candles on my desk and played Mass with my first Communion book,” Doustou sad.

“Everyone thought that was adorable because the week before, I wanted to be a police officer,” he said. “I took it very seriously. So, when I wanted to be a police officer, I had lights and sirens on my bike.

His parents wondered what would come next.

“Nothing came after,” he said. “My heart didn’t go anywhere else.”

On Sunday, Doustou, now 25, will be ordained as a deacon in Portland’s Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Next year, he expects to be ordained as a priest.

It’s the path he began in Sabattus and Wales as a kid, first by playing priest, then by serving as an altar boy at Holy Family Church in Lewiston.

“I got to wear a robe, and it was just incredible. It was very appealing to the senses,” he said. “At the same time it was filling me in a way that nothing else was. I was discovering in the Mass just how personal and how immediate God is. And my faith just grew by leaps and bounds.”

Doustou graduated from Saint Dominic Regional High School in 2005.

He has never wavered in his desire to be a priest.

“There was no lightning bolt moment,” he said. “It wasn’t even really a conversion. This is what was introduced to me as a child and I just grew up into it. I just knew what I was supposed to be.”

Doustou entered the Basselin Scholars Program, a three-year honors philosophy program at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. He earned bachelor’s and licentiate degrees in philosophy and then a bachelor’s degree in theology.

He plans to re-enter Catholic University in the fall to study canon law.

Were he not a priest, he figures he would become a teacher or a lawyer.

“I’ve always had an analytical mind,” Doustou said. “I have a desire to bring justice, order and peace.”

In canon law, he’ll study the inner workings of the Catholic Church and how it handles such issues as annulments.

But his plan is to be a parish priest in a diocese where the numbers of priests and churches are falling.

“The church is not a building,” he said. “The church is a people. We have great faith in the diocese. As long as there is faith here and as long as there are good and holy priests here to propagate the faith and to bring faith to the people, I want to be part of it.

“I really believe this is the best kind of life somebody could have,” he said. “I just want people to know about it. I want to do this. This is what gives me peace and joy.”

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