Their stories bolster the goals of the diocese’s $70 million Stewardship for Saints and Scholars campaign, which seeks to make Catholic education more:

• On mission: Attract, form, train and retain excellent and faithful teachers and administrators.
• Affordable: Grow tuition assistance for current and new families.
• Accessible: Assist students with special needs.

Enhance services at our regional high schools. In addition, a portion of the funds raised by each parish will go toward that parish’s Local Initiatives.

Father Daniel LaCroix credited the Catholic school environment with shaping and forming his faith.

“Catholic schools have made me into a better Catholic than I would have been otherwise, which made it easier for me to hear God’s call. It made it easier for me, when I went off to college at a state school, to get involved in the campus parish there, to keep practicing my faith in college, away from my family.

“It’s the foundation that it built.”

Father Randy Koenigsknecht grew up on a dairy farm as the youngest of 10 kids, including twin older brothers who also are priests. Although his time in Catholic school was limited, the experience left a lasting mark. He said that Catholic education gave him a starting point “so then later in life, when I started asking some of the bigger questions — like who is God and whatnot — I had a foundation that I could go off for answers.

“It gives the foundational material to grow in your faith — not just pray and go to church, but to learn more about God’s will and have that information that makes it more possible to actually give your life to something.”

Father Josh Luttig echoed the importance of faithful formation. The public school graduate attended religious education classes growing up and credited his church’s high school youth group for starting his love of ministry.

“The Lord was really gentle with me. He gave me a lot of gentle nudges as I was growing up,” he said. “I really fell in love with ministry in high school. I was really involved with the youth group, and it was through that that I got really involved with the Faith.”

One retreat during that time proved especially pivotal. Soon after applying to the seminary, Father Luttig was attending a youth retreat where seminarians prayed for those in the crowd. One walked up to him and told him, “The Holy Spirit highlighted you out of this crowd, and he wants you to know that you have a special mark on your soul, and God wants you to be a shepherd for his people.”

That encounter confirmed for him that the seminary was the right path.

The experiences of those young priests during their elementary and high school years highlight the importance of having a foundation of faith from an early age — especially in today’s cultural climate.

“Many of our Catholic values and beliefs are being challenged in ways that they haven’t been before,” Father LaCroix said. “Even when I was a kid — and I’m not even that old — I can see a change.

“Catholic schools give kids a safe place to learn about their faith and just live that out. It gives them a healthy formation, just as human beings, without any distortions.” Father Luttig said the formation offered through Catholic institutions is more important than ever.

“As society and culture turn further away from what’s true, good and beautiful, it’s more important to have these Catholic institutions that are able to teach the next generation about what is good and true and beautiful, and get them on the right path before the world steals them away.”

Fathers Luttig, Koenigsknecht, and LaCroix, whose class was ordained in June, said the Stewardship for Saints and Scholars campaign should have lasting effects.

Father Koenigsknecht said the campaign can strengthen the diocese by raising the general foundation of knowledge, which will help in educating parish members and preparing them for their mission. He added that Catholic schools can be “lifelines” for parishes.

Father Luttig praised the campaign’s inclusion of parish religious education and homeschool programs, citing the increased resources those programs would receive to help children and families who can’t attend Catholic schools due to location, financial situation, health reasons, or other circumstances.

Father LaCroix touted his on-mission Catholic teachers: “They taught us to know God more than knowing about God. … I could tell that they believed in God in more than an academic way. But they didn’t turn faith into just another class like math or science or history or English or whatever.”

These three new priests are proof of what strong faith formation can do. Each of their stories shows how important it is to help young people grow in their relationship with God. 

With the Stewardship for Saints and Scholars campaign, the Diocese of Lansing is working to do just that — giving more young people the chance to be formed in their faith, supported by great teachers and surrounded by a strong Catholic community.