Deacons Barba, Finkbeiner, Musgrave and Whalen will be ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Weisenburger on May 23
DETROIT — On Saturday, May 23, Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger will ordain four men to the sacred priesthood for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
Deacons Lizandro Barba, Karl Finkbeiner, James Musgrave and Daniel Whalen will become priests “now and forever, in the order of Melchizedek,” as it is worded in the Rite of Ordination.
Each man’s journey to the priesthood is as unique as the man himself, but come Saturday, they will share the common bond of being priests for Christ and His Church.
Leading up to their ordination, Detroit Catholic spoke with the four men to discuss their backgrounds, their calling to the priesthood, the people who journeyed with them through their discernment and what it will mean to each of them when they kneel before Archbishop Weisenburger, who will lay his hands on their heads, and in persona Christi, ordain them priests.
The liturgy will take place starting at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Detroit. All are invited to participate via livestream.
The Church has always been a second home for Deacon Barba
Deacon Lizandro Barba
Age: 26
Parents: Jose Lois and Maria Barba
Education: Annapolis High School, Dearborn Heights; Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit (Bachelor of Philosophy, Master of Divinity and STB)
Home parish: St. Alfred, Taylor
Mass of Thanksgiving: Most Holy Redeemer Parish, Detroit (3 p.m., Sunday, May 24)
Hobbies: Spending time with family and friends
At his ordination to the priesthood, Deacon Lizandro Barba, 26, will become the answer to his grandmother Mercedes’ prayer for a priest in the family.
Born in Los Angeles, the second of Jose Lois and Maria Barba’s four children, Deacon Barba and his family moved to Dearborn Heights when he was 8 years old. They joined St. Alfred Parish in Taylor.
Before entering Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Deacon Barba was enrolled at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where he was studying to become a math teacher. During this time, he worked as the Hispanic ministry coordinator at St. Alfred and taught catechism classes.
From a very young age, Deacon Barba describes the Church as having been a “second home." He began to discern a vocation to the priesthood while in high school, attending a vocation night at Sacred Heart Major Seminary and two discernment weekends.
He'll always remember the date he was accepted into seminary: June 13.
“June 13 is the feast of St. Anthony of Padua, patron saint of lost things. And so the line from ‘Amazing Grace’ came to mind: ‘I was lost, but now I’m found,’” Deacon Barba said. “I was looking for God on my own terms, but He was already looking for me.”
Deacon Barba has been assigned to the Basilica of Ste. Anne de Detroit and Most Holy Trinity Parish in Detroit. His first Mass of Thanksgiving will be at Most Holy Redeemer, where he received his first Communion. He will celebrate a second Mass of Thanksgiving in his parents’ hometown in Mexico.
Deacon Barba said he wants to be “a holy and humble priest” and a spiritual father, similar to the many fatherly priests who inspired him.
“One of the things that I like talking a lot about is the Church's universal call to holiness, and I think I really want to be a priest who emphasizes the beauty of being a saint, that God has called each and every one of us to sainthood,” Deacon Barba said. “Whether that be as a priest, as a lay person, as a married individual, God has called each and every one of us to this consecrated state, to be completely given over to Him.”
Deacon Finkbeiner reflects on becoming the priest God is asking him to be
Deacon Karl Finkbeiner
Age: 28
Parents: Kurt and Nicole Finkbeiner
Education: Northville High School; University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Bachelor of Science in civil engineering); Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit (Bachelor of Philosophy, Master of Divinity and STB)
Home Parish: Our Lady of Good Counsel, Plymouth
Masses of Thanksgiving: Our Lady of Good Counsel, Plymouth (Saturday, May 23, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, May 24, at noon)
Hobbies: Bike riding, skiing, running and playing sports
Deacon Karl Finkbeiner, 28, was studying civil engineering at the University of Michigan when he first heard God's call to build something different in his life.
Deacon Finkbeiner grew up in Northville in a strong Catholic home, the eldest of five children and part of Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth, but it wasn’t until college that he first considered the priesthood.
“The thought first came into my heart as a legitimate possibility that maybe God was calling me to be a priest when I was on a men’s retreat during a time of prayer after confession,” Deacon Finkbeiner told Detroit Catholic. “The thought welled up in my heart that this would be a beautiful life.”
Deacon Finkbeiner finished his engineering education at the University of Michigan while getting more involved at St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor.
He cultivated a group of close friends through campus ministry and started a college ministry group that met once a week at Our Lady of Good Counsel.
“Then one day I had a fulfilling day of work in my (engineering) internship and really felt like this was something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life,” Deacon Finkbeiner said. “But as I drove up to Our Lady of Good Counsel for daily Mass, I had this internal voice of the Lord saying, ‘I just want you to leave all that behind.’
“When I saw the priest elevate the consecrated host, something just melted within me, and I realized, ‘Lord, if you are calling me to this, there’s nothing I’d rather do with my life,’” Deacon Finkbeiner added.
Deacon Finkbeiner entered Sacred Heart in the fall of 2020, where his formation experience strengthened the calling he heard from the Lord.
“There was a moment in my formation meeting with a priest where I was able to lay my fears before him, and he shared some of his own story about how the Lord had provided a place where we needed to trust Him,” Deacon Finkbeiner said. “That made me realize, it’s OK, it’s not about me being perfectly ready for this life; it’s about having the confidence to trust that the Lord is going to provide for every step of the journey.”
As ordination day approaches, Deacon Finkbeiner recalled a time he heard Lansing Bishop Earl A. Boyea speak at St. Mary Student Parish about the biggest questions facing the Catholic Church.
“The biggest question facing the Catholic Church today is, ‘Do we really believe Jesus rose from the dead?’” Deacon Finkbeiner said. “Because if we believe that, it will change everything about the way we live our lives. For me, it was a word of conviction that, 'Yes, I do believe this.' I want to be a witness to the risen Lord, knowing that's the kind of priest he wants me to be."
Time before the Blessed Sacrament led Deacon Musgrave to the priesthood
Deacon James Musgrave
Age: 39
Parents: Jim and Linda Musgrave
Education: Detroit Catholic Central High School, Novi; Hillsdale College (Bachelor of Science in marketing and management, minor in biology); Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti (master's in educational leadership with a concentration in higher education); Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit (Bachelor of Philosophy, Master of Divinity and STB)
Home parish: Our Lady of Good Counsel, Plymouth
Masses of Thanksgiving: Our Lady of Good Counsel, Plymouth (10 a.m. Sunday, May 24); St. Andrew Parish, Rochester (10 a.m. Sunday, June 21)
Hobbies: Cooking, working out, fishing
Deacon Jim Musgrave, 39, is a Catholic convert whose vocation was born out of prayer and “rooted in deep, deep love for Jesus.”
Born in Allen Park, the son of Linda and the late Jim Musgrave, and brother to sister Jamie, Deacon Musgrave attended Detroit Catholic Central High School in Novi, where he says he first encountered the Catholic faith. After attending Hillsdale College for marketing and biology, he attended medical school before discerning out, going on to earn a master's in educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University in 2015.
Deacon Musgrave joined RCIA and became Catholic in 2012, and started attending Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Plymouth.
In the years leading up to seminary, Deacon Musgrave says he experienced an “identity crisis” as he discerned what God wanted for his life. He deepened his faith as he discovered that true joy comes from a relationship with Jesus.
During this time, his pastor, Fr. John Riccardo, founder of ACTS XXIX, invited Deacon Musgrave to coffee. Sure that Fr. Riccardo was going to ask him if he had considered the priesthood, Deacon Musgrave put off his meeting with Fr. Riccardo for months, until, prompted by the Holy Spirit, he relented.
Instead of asking about the priesthood, Fr. Riccardo asked about his prayer life and challenged Deacon Musgrave to spend 30 minutes each week in front of the Blessed Sacrament.
“He said, ‘Have you ever just asked Jesus what he wants you to do with your life?’ I said, ‘No, I've just been kind of trying to figure out that plan on my own,’” Deacon Musgrave recalled. “He said, ‘How is that working out for you?’”
Deacon Musgrave began spending 30 minutes per week in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament, and soon, this grew to 30 minutes a day, then an hour a day. During this time, he began asking the Lord the question Fr. Riccardo had proposed.
Over several years, Deacon Musgrave found himself falling deeper in love with Jesus. He entered Sacred Heart Major Seminary in 2020.
In 2025, Deacon Musgrave's parents joined the Church, and just 20 days later, his father died. Deacon Musgrave explained that his father had been ill for some time, but he believed he was holding on and waiting to surrender his life to Jesus.
After his first year of theology, Deacon Musgrave completed an internship at ACTS XXIX, and later during his studies, another at St. Andrew Parish in Rochester, where he served with Fr. Brian Cokonougher and Fr. Joe Horn. He described his time at St. Andrew as formative.
After ordination, Deacon Musgrave will be assigned to St. Hugo of the Hills Parish in Bloomfield Hills.
Deacon Musgrave said he wants his priesthood to be rooted in servant leadership and selfless love, saying he looks forward to being able to “pour myself out for those whom God has entrusted” to him as a spiritual father.
“I want to be a priest who loves Jesus, who really is driven by this desire to do what Jesus came to do, which was to transform and recreate the world and to equip people to be able to do that,” Deacon Musgrave said.
Deacon Whalen's discernment began while altar serving
Deacon Daniel Whalen
Age: 26
Parents: Daniel and Lee Ann Whalen
Education: St. Mary's Preparatory, Orchard Lake; Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit (Bachelor of Philosophy, Master of Divinity and STB)
Home parish: Our Lady of Refuge, Orchard Lake
Mass of Thanksgiving: Our Lady of Refuge, Orchard Lake (11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 24)
Hobbies: Rowing, kite flying, model trains
Deacon Daniel Whalen, 26, grew up in what he would call the “typical Catholic family” at Our Lady of Refuge Parish in Orchard Lake.
The youngest of four children, Deacon Whalen attended Mass with his family, praying before meals and before bed, and attending Our Lady of Refuge School before progressing to St. Mary’s Preparatory, where the thought of the priesthood entered his mind.
“My journey to the priesthood started in a very gentle, progressive way of understanding my vocation and just learning and living the Catholic family life,” Deacon Whalen told Detroit Catholic. “While altar serving and learning more about the Mass, I started to fall in love with the Church, with the Mass and the Eucharist.”
Deacon Whalen spoke with his pastor, Msgr. Gerald McEnhill, who suggested that he contact the archdiocese's director of priestly vocations. That led him to attend a discernment weekend at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in November 2017 — providentially, the same weekend Blessed Solanus Casey was beatified at Ford Field.
“I fell in love with Sacred Heart when I visited. It was the weekend of the beatification of Solanus Casey, and all the seminarians and the guests on that discernment weekend went to Ford Field for the beatification Mass,” Deacon Whalen recalled. “I saw the life of Solanus Casey come before my eyes, and I felt the love, and immediately after applied and signed up and was approved.”
Deacon Whalen became even more convinced God was calling him to be a priest when he worked as a guidance counselor at Camp Sancta Maria in Gaylord.
“I was able to be with 60 to 100 campers and witness the faith in them, being able to pray with them in the chapel and going to Mass with them,” Deacon Whalen said. “It was the first time I experienced spiritual fatherhood, and I knew that’s what I wanted for my life.”
As ordination day approaches, Deacon Whalen said one of the biggest challenges the Church faces today is fear — particularly, a fear that the Church itself might be in decline. However, he said, the antidote to fear is always faith.
“I think one of the ways we can help bring an encounter with the Lord is by expressing the faith with hope and love of Christ to each person," Deacon Whalen said, "telling each person how much they are wanted in Mass, and how much God wants them to be here.”
