With great joy and gratitude to God, we celebrate the ordination of Fr. Kyle Lang ’19, who was ordained to the priesthood on Saturday, June 27, at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in his home Diocese of La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Numerous Princeton alumni were present to pray for and celebrate this beautiful moment, along with Aquinas Institute chaplain Fr. Zack Swantek, who concelebrated both the Ordination Mass and Fr. Lang’s Mass of Thanksgiving.
Reflecting on the ordination, Fr. Zack shared: “I was particularly struck by the moment when they placed the priestly chasuble upon him for the first time. Now he was a brother priest. In the first half of the Mass, he sat with his parents and the faithful in the pews. Now he joined the bishop and the priests at the altar to offer the Holy Eucharist for God’s people. His life was no longer his own. Through the sacrament of Holy Orders, he was conformed more deeply to Christ, offering his life with Jesus for the Church and the salvation of souls.”
A psychology major at Princeton, Kyle was known for his zeal, generosity, and adventurous spirit. In 2017, he ran 3,016 miles from Washington State to Coney Island, New York—averaging 40 miles per day for 76 days—to raise money for charity. That same zeal that once carried him across the country in service of others has now carried him through seminary in Rome and back to the Diocese of La Crosse.
After graduating from Princeton, Kyle served in campus ministry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where God continued to fan the flame of his priestly vocation. He then entered the seminary, and after a year of formation in Wisconsin, was sent to Rome to study at the Pontifical North American College, earning a Master’s degree in Theology from the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Santa Croce).
We give thanks to God for Fr. Lang’s generous “yes” to the Lord’s call and pray that his priestly ministry may bear abundant fruit. He has been assigned as chaplain at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and as associate pastor of Sacred Heart–St. Patrick Parishes.
Please keep Fr. Lang in your prayers as he begins his priestly ministry. May Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, intercede for him, and may the Sacred Heart of Jesus set his priestly heart ever more ablaze with love for souls.
Fr. Lang is the third Princeton alumnus to be ordained to the priesthood in the past three years. We are blessed to have four other alumni currently in formation for the priesthood, and one alumna in formation for religious life with the Dominican Sisters of Summit, New Jersey. Please keep them in your prayers, and pray that the Lord will continue to raise up generous young men and women to serve His Church through priestly and religious vocations.
