Filling the Need: International priests in the Diocese of Gaylord

The Catholic Church continues to face challenges when it comes to having enough priests to serve all its parishes.

And one of the solutions to the shortage the Catholic Church here in the United States has used for years, just got more complicated.

Spend just a few minutes with Fr. Michael Janowski, and you’ll quickly learn, he simply loves being a Catholic priest

“I found myself in seminary at the age of 40 going back to school, but every year that I completed, I kept going because I really enjoyed it. I really liked it, and I felt a call within me to say, okay, this is what I’m really supposed to do. And, at the age of 44, I was ordained for this diocese,” recalled Janowski.

He’s now been a priest for the better part of 20 years, and currently oversees four parishes between Wexford and Missaukee counties, the largest being St. Ann’s in Cadillac.

“It’s it’s been a rich gift for me. Has it always been easy? No. I mean, a lot of challenges over the years. Especially when you become a pastor. Being a priest is one thing. Serving in the pastoral, liturgical or sacramental capacity. When you become pastor, you become in charge of the administration and everything else that goes along with that,” said Janowski.

And to help in that role, there’s typically been a second priest, known as an associate pastor, assigned to the cluster of parishes in Wexford and Missaukee counties.

But earlier this year, the diocese of Gaylord had an opening at another parish, assigning that role to Fr. Michael’s associate.

“And then I found myself alone. And I said to our bishop, what do I do? I can’t, I locate I need to have some help,” said Janowski.

That help came in the form of Fr. Kunal Singh, from India.

“I never thought that I could come here, but I had a faith. If you love God, God will love to you. And wherever he wants, he will take you to,” said Singh.

Priests like Fr. Kunal coming from overseas to serve in the United States is something the Catholic Church has relied on for years as it battles a decline the number of new priests and rise in the number of aging and retiring priests.

It also use to be a fairly straight forward process, but recent rule changes at the federal level have slowed the processing of paperwork for religious visas.

Karina Bak is the director of human resources for the Diocese of Gaylord.

“They can stay for 30 months, and then we can apply for another 30 months for a maximum of five years, 60 months. They do have to go back for one year. And if we are able to request them again, they have to go through the process of reapplying for an R1 visa. So it’s another 6 to 8 months for that process to happen. The biggest changes are the big changes applying for citizenship. If that route is chosen, you have to apply sooner and it takes longer. We’ve had one priest who’s lost documents due to fires set by Boko Haram. So, they’re not replaceable trying to find them. It has been difficult for him,” said Bak.

All legal wrangling aside, it’s also a process that requires tremendous sacrifice.

“When I got ready to come here, my mother, poured out her tears. And all my relatives, even two of my brothers, those two also poured out their tears, so that made me a little, saddened in the moment, but, you know, priests are not for home, they are for God and God’s people.,” said Fr. Kunal.

Something that’s not lost on Gaylord bishop Jeffrey Walsh.

“There’s just a lot of moving parts, part of the immigration issues. But the bottom line for us at the human level, we want to make sure that they feel in communion with the church and we extend to them such gratitude for their willingness to sacrifice what they’ve done there,” said Bishop Walsh.

The Diocese of Gaylord is still working to bring two more international priests to northern Michigan, and it’s likely they’ll continue needing their help, with the diocese not scheduled to ordain a new priest for another four years.

“So the priority for us is to raise up our own priestly vocations from our families and allow them to flourish within, you know, a culture that they were able to grow, grow up in and experience in a new way, serving the people of Northern Michigan as a priest,” said Walsh.

As the diocese waits on additional international priests to arrive, and crosses the hurdles in that process -- priests like Fr. Michael and Fr. Kunal will keep doing their jobs.

Because, in this line of work, part of the problem solving is often left, to a higher power.

“I enjoy most celebrating the mass. That is the greatest moment that every priesthood enjoy and I enjoy a lot,” said Fr. Kunal.

“Even beyond being a pastor or taking care of schools and parishes and administering we, the greatest thing I think we can do is to celebrate mass for them, bring them the sacraments, bring them the very presence of Jesus himself. That’s the most important thing we can do. And everything else comes second or third or fourth after that,” said Fr. Janowski.