“It feels kind of surreal, waking up knowing that I’m a priest now,” he said the morning after his ordination.

Also surreal was knowing he would be giving both Sunday homilies at St. Stanislaus Church (Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish), the same place where he returned to the Church 16 years earlier. After a long detour with sharp turns and obstacles, the former long-haul truck driver had finally made a U-turn, which brought him back to the Church and into the priesthood.

A turning point

The 46-year-old Bay City native had felt a calling to the priesthood at a young age but fell in with the wrong crowd in high school. To try to fit in and deal with social anxiety, Father Daniel began smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol. Though he spent most of his formative years at St. Stanislaus Parish (now Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish), Father Daniel turned away from the Church after his 10-year-old sister Jeannie Marie died suddenly from a brain aneurysm. Sixteen at the time, Father Daniel said he started living “a party life” and began using marijuana and alcohol even more.

“I turned to that for comfort,” he said.

The “party life” continued throughout his 20s, Father Daniel said. As an ironworker, he traveled around the state and was immersed in a culture where “you either drank or smoked pot.”

Still, the seed of faith that his parents, Sue and Paul, had planted in Father Daniel and in his 14 siblings remained. And while they observed the detour Father Daniel was on at the time, Sue and Paul never gave up on him, and they never stopped praying.

Then in 2009, when Father Daniel was 30 years old, their prayers were answered. Though he stopped attending Mass regularly after his sister died, Father Daniel always went to confession before attending Mass on Easter and Christmas. That year at his confession before Easter, the priest gave him the penance of spending 10 to 15 minutes before the Blessed Sacrament to ask the Holy Spirit: Is it time to return to the Church?

“It was a really good penance,” Father Daniel said. “I just felt the Holy Spirit pulling me back home.”

After that, he began attending Mass every Sunday. He felt at peace, and all he wanted to do was serve God.

Ordination day

That desire led him to the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption in Saginaw on May 30, where Father Daniel was ordained as the newest priest in the Diocese of Saginaw. Fighting back tears throughout most of the ceremony, Father Daniel said he felt like the Prodigal Son as Bishop Robert Gruss, his parents, family members and friends warmly welcomed him into the priesthood after a long, circuitous journey. In the pews were a handful of friends and faculty members from Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Franklin, Wisconsin, where he recently earned a Master of Divinity. His 77-year-old aunt, Sister Mary Matthew of the Oblates of the Virgin Mary of Fatima, even flew in from Rome for the occasion.

“You’ve overcome every obstacle that has been put in your way to get to this moment in your life,” Bishop Gruss told Father Daniel before the assembly. “I think the Lord has given you an extra dose of perseverance, because many would have probably given up. But because of this vocation that you knew was deep in your heart, you couldn’t say no in spite of any of these obstacles.”

During his homily, Bishop Gruss also thanked Father Daniel’s parents, Paul and Sue, for the gift of their son to the Diocese and for helping him answer the call to serve as a priest.

During the Rite of Ordination, Father Daniel vowed to "discharge the office of priesthood with humility and love, hold fast to the mystery of faith, proclaim this faith in word and deed, embrace the celibate state and pray for the Church and the whole world." The rite also included a promise of obedience to the bishop and his successors. Father Daniel then prostrated himself before the altar in complete surrender to God as the congregation prayed the Litany of Supplication, asking for God’s mercy and for the saints to intercede on Father Daniel’s behalf.

After Bishop Gruss laid hands on Father Daniel, calling down the Holy Spirit during the Prayer of Ordination, all the priests in attendance prayed over Father Daniel. Father Andy LaFramboise, director of vocations, vested Father Daniel with a chasuble and stole, and Bishop Gruss anointed Father Daniel’s hands with sacred chrism oil, symbolizing his entrance into Christ’s priesthood.

Then, Father Daniel began concelebrating his first Mass as a priest, receiving Holy Eucharist at the altar before administering the Body of Christ to the first people in line: his parents.

Hearing the call

It was no surprise to Sue and Paul when Father Daniel told them he wanted to enter the priesthood. From the time he made his First Communion and began altar serving at St. Mary of the Assumption (now Our Lady of Peace) in Bay City, Father Daniel said he knew he wanted to be a priest.

“We encouraged him,” Sue said, recalling the time Father Daniel won a statewide award for a paper he wrote at age 10 about his desire to be a priest.

And though he took a long detour from the Lord’s call, the Good Shepherd always searches for lost sheep, as Father Rick Filary said. “[Daniel’s] journey was to respond to that.”

Father Rick, who became pastor of Our Lady of Czestochowa Parish in 2010, began seeing Father Daniel attend Mass more regularly— not only on Sundays, but also on weekdays.  Now a senior priest and sacramental minister at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in Midland, Father Rick recalled the words of St. Augustine when reflecting on Father Daniel’s spiritual journey:  “… our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

“I noticed my anxiety dissipated the more that I received the Eucharist,” Father Daniel noted— even though the country was in a recession and there were economic stresses.

With few opportunities for ironworkers and his unemployment was about to run out, Father Daniel devoted more time to cultivating his faith and began praying a novena to St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, one of his favorite saints. He asked for her intercession to help him find work, and at the conclusion of the novena—on the feast of the Sacred Heart— Father Daniel heard the call.

In a clear voice, Jesus told him: “You already know the path I have set in front of you from before the beginning of time. Come follow me and feed my flock.”

Shortly after, Father Daniel answered Jesus’ invitation and reached out to the Diocesan vocations director. Before he could apply, he had some things to work on– namely, paying down some debt. At the suggestion of one of his brothers, Father Daniel decided to take to the road as a long-haul truck driver for eight years, traveling with one destination in mind: the priesthood.

“How can you not say yes to God when he wants you to do something?” he said.

It was suggested that Father Daniel take classes at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit. He switched to short-haul trucking, which allowed him to remain in the state and attend in-person classes to earn a certificate of Catholic theology. But there was yet another obstacle. The pandemic hit and he had to take the remaining courses online.

One year passed, and after earning his certificate at the age of 41, Father Daniel met with Bishop Gruss.

“And then Bishop Gruss accepted him,” his father, Paul, recalled.

Following God’s path

Bishop Gruss sent Father Daniel to the Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology in Franklin, Wisconsin. After being ordained as a transitional deacon last May, Father Daniel served at Corpus Christi Parish in Bay City for the summer before returning to seminary to complete his studies. As a transitional deacon, Father Daniel said he enjoyed preaching the homily twice a week, administering the sacrament of Baptism and celebrating funeral services.

Now entering this new chapter, Father Daniel is serving as the parochial vicar at St. Mary University Parish and Sacred Heart Parish in Mount Pleasant. Father Daniel lives at the rectory at St. Mary University Parish on Central Michigan University’s campus, and he’ll also help shepherd the students at Sacred Heart Academy.

“I’m excited to start my ministry ... [particularly] celebrating Mass every day and trying to lead people to God,” Father Daniel said, adding that he prays his experience will help him provide hope to parents with children who have lost their way.

Father Daniel’s life experiences and journey with all its detours, the experience he has had with 34 nieces and nephews, the way he listens with the ear of his heart, his patience and understanding—all these gifts will help others, Sue said.

“He will be able to empathize and understand people who have journeyed similar to him,” Father Rick said, adding he will be able to reach those on the peripheries that others may not know how to reach as easily.

“The Lord has formed you over the whole of your life,” Bishop Gruss told Father Daniel in his homily. “He has planted many gifts in you that have come alive over the years and have developed to make you who you are today.  As your priestly ministry begins, my encouragement is to be yourself, put all those gifts at the service of the Holy Spirit, and trust that the Lord will use them in ways that you cannot imagine.”

As her son begins this new chapter, Sue is overjoyed and confident.

“He’s going to be a good priest.”

And it’s all thanks to God’s amazing grace.