Fourteen for the Lord
Seminarian Formation
A Fruitful Spring: Graduates from Six Dioceses Receive Holy Orders.
Your newest priests, from the Class of 2014. Front from left: Rev. Christopher Stanish, Rev. James Rolph, Rev. Andrew LaFramboise, Rev. Joseph Kirkconnell, Rev.
Scott Jablonski, Rev. James Leeser, Rev. W. Vincent Richardson. Back from left: Rev. Todd Koenigsknecht, Rev. Jeffrey Allan, Rev. Ryan Adams, (Archbishop Allen
Vigneron and Msgr. Todd Lajiness), Rev. John Kopson, Rev. Gary Koenigsknecht, Rev. Tristan Abbott, SOLT, and Rev. Michael Slovak, SOLT.
T
he papers—finished. The tests—taken. The hours
of formation—pastoral, spiritual, intellectual, and
human—complete.
And complete are the many hours of enquiring
in the quiet of the heart: “Lord, are you really
calling me to serve you as a Catholic priest?”
After all the hard work and hard time—for
some seminarians over the course of eight years of
study—the hour came this spring. The Lord truly
chose these fourteen men, these 2014 graduates of
Sacred Heart, to his sacred priesthood.
The Cayman Islands?
The first of the priestly ordinations occurred
on May 24, in the Cayman Islands surprisingly.
At St. Ignatius Parish in the city of Grand
Cayman, Most Rev. Francis Reiss laid hands upon
Joseph Kirkconnell, 30. Father Joseph is one
of only two native-born Caymanians who have
been ordained to the priesthood (the other is Fr.
Tristan Abbott, SOLT, below).
Why was he ordained by Bishop Reiss, a
Detroit auxiliary bishop? Because St. Ignatius is
administered by the Archdiocese of Detroit as
a “mission church,” since the Cayman Islands
does not have its own Catholic diocese. Father
Joseph was thereby assigned to Sacred Heart
for his priestly formation, beginning in 2007
as an undergraduate philosophy student. He
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MOSAIC
is considered a priest of the archdiocese (and
requested special permission to be ordained in
his home country, happily granted by Most Rev.
Allen Vigneron, Archbishop of Detroit). Father
Joseph’s first assignment is at St. Paul Parish in
Grosse Pointe Farms.
Saginaw’s Newest
On May 30, the Cathedral of Mary of the
Assumption in Saginaw witnessed the ordination
of Andrew LaFramboise for t H[