Two Columbus St. Charles Preparatory School alumni will be ordained to the priesthood in the Congregation of Holy Cross on Saturday, April 6. 

Deacons Michael Ryan and Brian Vetter, C.S.C. (Congregatio a Sancta Cruce in Latin), both graduates of the University of Notre Dame, are among eight men who will be ordained priests at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on the university’s campus. The Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers is based in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Students will gather at the university’s Our Lady of Lourdes grotto on Friday, April 5 to pray the rosary and extend blessings upon the men before their anticipated ordination.

Both men studied at Moreau Seminary, located less than a mile from the University of Notre Dame campus. Moreau is the major seminary for the congregation in the United States. Men in formation live there and take courses at Notre Dame.

Ryan graduated from St. Charles in 2008 and Notre Dame in 2012 with a degree in civil engineering. He worked as an engineer and superintendent of Clark Construction Group in Chicago for five years. He entered the Congregation of Holy Cross in 2017 and earned a master of divinity from Notre Dame.

Ryan said he was drawn to Holy Cross because of the witness of men he encountered during his undergraduate years at Notre Dame and because of a belief that the cross is the only hope. He felt called to the priesthood in high school and college but decided to use his engineering degree after graduating. He said he enjoyed working as an engineer in construction, but he continued to feel a call to the priesthood and left the field to discern. 

Vetter graduated from St. Charles in 2013 and Notre Dame in 2017 with a degree in pre-medicine and theology. He planned to attend medical school and become a doctor but said he experienced a pull toward discerning religious life and the priesthood while at Notre Dame. 

Vetter earned a master of divinity from Notre Dame. He said he was inspired by the joy and mission of Holy Cross religious and their relationship with Jesus Christ. He currently serves as a middle school science and religion teacher in South Bend, Indiana.

The Congregation of Holy Cross was founded in 1837 by Blessed Father Basil Moreau in France. Priests and brothers of Holy Cross strive to be teachers in the faith who educate both mind and heart in the fields of education, parish life and mission. Their zeal is to make God known, loved and served.

Four colleges are administered by the congregation’s U.S. Province: Notre Dame, University of Portland, King’s College and Stonehill College. Other provinces in the United States include the Midwest Province of Brothers (Notre Dame, Indiana) and Moreau Province (Austin, Texas).