He said he first heard the call to the priesthood during his junior year of high school as he served on the altar during Mass. “The Lord started to invite me to consider how cool it would be to be a priest and celebrate the Mass. This was especially strong in my heart while ringing the bells at the consecration,” Deacon Kologinczak said.

He said it took time to accept God’s invitation to be a priest, but he eventually recognized, through a lot of prayer and with the help of priests of the diocese, that following the Lord’s call would be the only thing that would bring him fulfillment.

Celebrating the sacrament of baptism for the first time as a deacon is a treasured memory on his journey to the priesthood.

“All of the practice, talks about how to do ministry and seminary formation culminated in the simple and extraordinary act of baptism and making a young boy a child of God,” he said.

Deacon Kologinczak is most looking forward to sharing God’s love and grace and helping people live a sacramental life.