For Deacon Charles Warner, his years as a seminarian in the Eternal City have led him through a world of discoveries, not only about the Catholic faith, but about himself and the priest he hopes to become one day.

That day is June 19 when, God willing, Bishop Robert Gruss will celebrate Mass with the Rite of Ordination of One Priest at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw. The Rite includes the laying on of hands and the Prayer of Ordination.

“I'm excited,” Deacon Charles said in the diocesan podcast “United in Mission: One Heart and Mind.”

“It's hard to believe [it’s finally happening]. This is my sixth year of seminary and my fourth year [of] being in Rome. I have loved every bit of it, but I'm also excited to come to the end of it and [begin] ... my ministry as a priest in the Diocese of Saginaw.”

It’s been an incredible journey for the 2009 graduate of Heritage High School in Saginaw.

The son of Deacon Rick Warner (Director of Parish Life at Nativity of the Lord Parish in Alma and St. Louis) and Particia Warner, Deacon Charles has been in a whirlwind over the last year. He was in Rome when Pope Francis became ill and died on April 21, 2025. He cheered with his classmates at the Pontifical North American College (NAC) when the United States’ cardinals, who were staying at the NAC, left for and returned from the conclave, and he experienced the excitement of a new pope.

On Oct. 2, he was ordained to the transitional diaconate at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, the final step before ordination to the priesthood. (See the Nov./Dec. 2025 issue of Great Lakes Bay Catholic.)

Deacon Charles said the experience in Rome made memories of a lifetime.

“It’s been great to learn more about our faith, to get to know more about the Church and to get to know more about Jesus,” he said. “There is never a limit to your pursuit in your knowledge of Jesus or the Church.

“In Rome you're living in the history of saints, you're walking in their same footsteps,” he said, adding that innumerable faithful have visited the churches there “all for the same purpose:  to see greater things than what's there right in front of them.”

As of press time, Deacon Charles is completing his classes, preparing to make his canonical retreat (a multi-day silent retreat before ordination) and preparing for his future Masses of Thanksgiving and first blessings. It’s a cherished tradition for newly ordained Catholic priests to impart their first blessings immediately following ordination and at their first Masses.

According to pious tradition, these blessings are believed to carry special graces.

“The Church rejoices in its priests, especially newly ordained priests, because that just shows the flourishing in life of the church,” Deacon Charles said.

“It's just a pious expression of the Church rejoicing in the sense of wanting ... to receive a newly ordained priest blessing …  It … gives that great rejoicing in the path ahead for the church.”