Seminarian Formation
A Family Tradition
Koenigsknecht twins take their
place in long line of family and
parish priests.
Daniel Gallio
T
here may be a vocation shortage in the Church
at large—but not in the Koenigsknecht family
of Fowler, Michigan.
Sacred Heart seminarians Deacons Todd
and Gary Koenigsknecht (pronounced
(ken'-igs-nek) are the latest examples of the
extraordinary fruitfulness of a single family.
The fourth-year theologians and identical
twins from the Diocese of Lansing are
scheduled to be ordained on June 14 at
St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in East Lansing.
When Most Rev. Earl Boyea, bishop of
Lansing, lays hands upon them that day, Todd
and Gary will become the fifth and sixth priests
from the extended Koenigsknecht family.
This priestly hall of fame includes great uncle
Fr. William Koenigsknecht (1912-2002); another
great uncle, Fr. Julius Hengeshbach (1916-2002);
Msgr. Albert Koenigsknecht, MM (1917-1986),
second cousin and Maryknoll Missionary; and
uncle Fr. Bill Koenigsknecht (b. 1941), a senior
priest with the Lansing diocese. All four men
earned their undergraduate degrees at Sacred
Heart Major Seminary.
The twins will be the twenty-first and twentysecond priests who have come from Fowler’s
tiny Most Holy Trinity Parish, founded in 1881.
St. Mary Parish, just eight miles down the road
from Fowler in Westphalia, also is a seedbed of
priestly vocations, having fostered twenty-two
priests since its founding by pioneer German
immigrants in 1838.
That is an astounding forty-four priests,
including the four priests mentioned above,
having been generated by the two small farming
communities located just north of Lansing.
Gratitude for God’s Sustenance
What is the source of the Koenigsknecht
family’s vocational fecundity? Both Todd and
Gary agree: the faith-filled example of their
parents, Brian and Agnes, is foremost.
“Growing up on a dairy farm, I was with my
parents 24/7. I watched how they loved each
other; how they loved God,” Todd recalls. In
14
MOSAIC
Fr. Bill Koenigsknecht joi