Seminarian Biography: Rev. Mr. Greg Michaud

Deacon Gregory Michaud was born on March 31, 1965 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, the third of four children of Gerald and Jo Ann Michaud. He was baptized at St. Mary and St. Joseph’s Parish in Iron Mountain. His home parish is St. Mary’s in Tomah.

Deacon Greg attended Dickinson Area Catholic School (elementary and middle) followed by Iron Mountain High School.  Following graduation from high school, Deacon Greg attended Northern Michigan University and obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration - Marketing. He worked in sales and project management for 14 years before entering the seminary program with the Diocese of La Crosse.

Deacon Greg is currently a fourth year theology student at Mundelein Seminary in Chicago and will be ordained in 2009, God willing, after earning a Masters of Divinity degree. Deacon Greg was ordained a deacon on Saturday, April 26, 2008 by the Most Reverend Jerome E. Listecki, Bishop of La Crosse at Saint Mary's Parish in Neillsville.

During the summer of 2006, Deacon Greg attended the Institute for Priestly Formation at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. He has also spent  the 2005 summer at St. Mary’s in Tomah, served the 2004 summer on the Totus Tuus team, and spent his first summer (2003) in the diocese in Chippewa Falls at Notre Dame parish.  More recently, Deacon Greg spent the summer of 2007 at Saint Mary's Parish in Neillsville.

Deacon Greg’s ecclesiastical interests include biblical and sacramental theology. His secular interests include hunting, fishing, golf, guitar, singing, recording music, and flying (although he states he is "not year a pilot").

Deacon Greg's favorite books include The Lamb's Supper by Scott Hahn, Deus Caritas Est by Pope Benedict XVI, and The Fire Within by Father George Ashenbrenner.  Deacon Greg's favorite musical artists include Phil Keaggy, Keith Moore, Clint Black, Alan Jackson, George Jones, John Denver, and Palestrina Gregorian Chant.  Deacon Greg's favorite foods include fish and seafood, as well as Porketta Pasties, spaghetti, bacon, and eggs.

Deacon Greg's favorite saints include the Blessed Mother, St. Therese (the Little Flower), Saint John Vianney, and Saint Augustine.  When asked why he entered the seminary, Deacon Greg states, "To be an instrument of God's mercy."  When asked why people should pray for vocations, Deacon Greg states, "Each of us needs to know what vocation God has given us and prayer is the only way to find out what that is."  Finally, when asked why young men should consider the priesthood, Deacon Greg responds, "If you are called, that is where you will serve God best and where you will find peace."

Personal Autobiography

Hello! My name is Deacon Greg Michaud. I am a third-year theologian studying for the priesthood of Jesus Christ at Mundelein seminary in Chicago. I thank God with every fiber of my being that He has allowed me to participate in the formation and education process of a Catholic priest. May His will be done!

I spent most of my adult life away from the Catholic Church; away from God. After many years of doing things my way, the weight of my sin literally brought me to my knees crying out, “Lord, I am so sorry! Please help me!” Those words started a beautiful journey back to our Lord; back to the Catholic Church and ultimately to the seminary. My mom’s many prayers, her many rosaries over many years and all the prayers of my dad were finally answered; their son was back in the Church.

Along the way I saw Jesus shower his grace on me through a holy and good priest, through a deacon who wouldn’t take no for an answer and an exceptionally holy bishop. The first of these was Fr. Dan Zaloga, my pastor back in my home town of Iron Mountain, Michigan. It was his preaching through his words and actions that first attracted me back to the Church. It was he who heard my first confession of 17 years. It was Father Zaloga who continued to hear my confessions for the next six years and who gave me spiritual direction. It was Fr. Zaloga who kept encouraging me to never take my eyes off Jesus, even as my past life kept grasping at me to bring me back, back away from the Truth. It was Fr. Zaloga who told me that if I would commit just one hour per week in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, pray a rosary and the Chaplet of Divine Mercy each day, my life would change dramatically. Approximately three years later, Deacon Don Christy was transferred to St. Mary’s and St. Joseph’s, my home parish in Iron Mountain.

I hadn’t seen Deacon Don in almost fifteen years. When he found out that I was 37 years old, not married, and that my then girlfriend was leaving to do missionary work he asked, “Have you ever thought about being a priest?” That question unlocked what I believe was a call to the priesthood that had been trapped inside of me from my childhood. After much prayer I realized that I had to go to the seminary to find out God’s call for me. And it is in my journey to the seminary that I have found peace. You see, just six month’s before Deacon Don’s question, I was praying before the Blessed Sacrament during one of my weekly holy hours recalling Fr. Zaloga’s words to me, “your life will change dramatically.” It did through Deacon Don’s question.

Approximately nine months later, I met then Bishop Raymond Burke. And the rest, as they say, is history.

Four things brought me to the seminary; reception of and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament, our Lord’s mercy, our Lady, and some very special people. I hope one day, God willing, to be able to offer sacrifice and be sacrificed as a priest of Jesus Christ. And I will do it in peace.

So what has seminary been like? It has been a gift; pure and simple. I have experienced the gift of just being in awe. Sometimes I cannot believe that our Lord has chosen me to be here at this time. I look at the grounds and the majesty of the buildings and I cannot help but think of the awesome tradition of the Church. It elevates me; it leads me to think about the beauty of the Mass. It leads me to think about the great gift I have been given to study the faith - full time! What a wonderful, wonderful gift. To have the luxury of dedicating all of my life right now to learning this great and inexhaustible faith we have been given is a truly holy and humbling experience!

I have experienced the great fraternity of my diocesan brothers from La Crosse as well as my seminarian brothers – those of other dioceses studying here at Mundelein. To live with, study with, pray with, struggle with, and laugh and cry with other men who love Jesus Christ and who are discerning the same call to the priesthood, is an indescribable experience. There is a bond. All of us, but primarily my diocesan brothers, become the Church’s “Band of Brothers”. And this brotherhood will help to bolster the faith we need to carry us through the priesthood.

Does this mean that everyday feels like heaven on earth? Not at all. There have been many difficulties not the least of which has been the shift from having almost total control of my schedule to having almost no control of my schedule. There has been difficulty in transitioning from having money enough to do most anything I wanted, to having just enough money to make my bills. It has been difficult to have to rely on the providence of God and the generosity of others instead of being self-reliant. My biggest difficulty, however, has been leaving my family and friends. Instead of being with them often, I am now with them seldom. These are issues with which I have had to struggle. Today, however, I can see myself doing nothing else other than being a priest for the Diocese of La Crosse. As I come to trust Jesus a little more each day, when I contemplate his will for me, these words which lay at the head of my own father’s death bed come to mind, “My will shall not take you where my grace cannot keep you.”

Through all of this I find myself with more and more desire to follow our Lord’s will. If, through my discernment in the seminary, I find I am truly called to the priesthood of Jesus Christ, then all of my experience at the seminary will give me a glimpse into what it might mean to offer sacrifice and to be sacrificed. By the intercession of our Blessed Mother, I shall do it in peace. May his will be done!