“Two priests and a deacon drove out to ordination Mass. Three priests drove back." This isn’t the beginning of a joke waiting for a punch line, writes Elaine Kutas, it is a reflection by Father Todd Koenigsknecht. On Saturday, June 14, both he and his twin brother, Father Gary Koenigsknecht, welcomed their younger sibling, Randy, to the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Three priests for the Diocese of Lansing. Deo gratias.
The trio are pictured above just moments after Father Randy's ordination. He is proudly flanked by Father Gary on the left and Father Todd on the right.
While three priests from one family isn't unique to the Koenigsknecht clan, it is still exceptionally rare. So how did it come about in this particular case? All three brothers point to their upbringing for an insight as to how they became the men, and the priests, they are today.
“I would attribute the strong vocations in my family to my parent’s dedication of doing small things well,” says Father Randy.
“We did simple things like praying as a family once a week, Mass on the weekends, and praying before meals, but it was the simple foundation that let our vocations flourish.”
The brothers grew up within a family of ten children on a dairy farm in Fowler, Michigan. It was there that the Koenigsknecht boys say they learned the lessons of physical work, but also how to put in the spiritual work for a thriving relationship with Christ.
Their dad and mom, Brian and Agnes, made a point of sitting down with every kid as they entered high school to ask if they were feeling a call to the priesthood or religious life. This dedication from their parents, say the boys, taught them to be unafraid of Christ’s call in their lives, regardless of the particular demands made by any divinely-ordained vocation.
“To use a farming analogy, the field was well prepped for us to receive the seed of the call and for it to take root, ” Father Todd muses.
“Because of our parent’s example in their own vocation of marriage, we knew what it meant to say yes to our own vocations. ”
All three clerical Koenigsknechts also point towards another vocation modeled to them in early years: that of their uncle, Father Bill Koenigsknecht, erstwhile pastor of Church of the Resurrection in Lansing and now a retired priest of the diocese. The brothers recall how Father Bill would come help on the farm during his day off and, because of this, they were able to observe a priest live his vocation in a day-to-day setting.
“We would watch Father Bill pray his breviary during his visits, and that was what first opened me to consider the priesthood when I was seven or eight years old,” Father Gary says.
Father Todd and Father Gary say they both felt the call to the priesthood during their youth but did not tell each other of this hidden desire until they had spoken with their parents. Only then did they learn that the other brother was feeling the same way about the call of the Lord. The Koenigsknecht twins were ordained to the priesthood in 2014.
Father Todd is currently the pastor of Sacred Heart & St. Mary on the Lake Manitou Beach. Father Gary is the pastor of Saint Joseph in Howell. Father Randy has just taken up his first posting as Parochial Vicar of Saint John the Evangelists in Jackson.
The youngest of the Koenigsknecht kids, Father Randy says he had no notion of becoming a priest when his brother were ordained 11 years ago. Through the promptings of the Holy Spirit, however, all that changed and he found himself one of seven young men ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Lansing by Bishop Earl Boyea earlier this month.
“Father Randy’s ordination has been a source of a lot of reflection in my own priesthood and thanking Jesus for all that He has done in my life, ” Father Todd says, “I am excited for him to see all that the Lord has in mind and meet all the people he is meant to minister to.”
As for fraternal advice, both Father Gary and Father Todd encourage Father Randy to stay a devoted to a daily schedule of prayer and to always remain open to Christ’s call in his life.
“A wise older priest told me to remember two things as I entered my ministry; firstly, to remember that there are many people waiting for my priesthood, and secondly, to remember there are many people who will love my priesthood more than I do,” Father Gary says.
“He explained that in the challenging or dry seasons, there will be people who love my priesthood and will encourage me to keep going by their faith and example.”
By the grace of God, these three brothers will continue their pilgrimage as priests together, following each other’s example and always striving to be the priests Christ called them to be.
“As the proverb goes, ‘iron sharpens iron,’” Father Todd says. “Father Gary has really done that for me, and I hope that we have both been and will continue to be that for Father Randy. ”