SMCC teachers played a role in the vocations of Fr. Krawetzke, SJ, Class of '05, Fr. Langton, '06, and Fr. Roelant, '07
MONROE – In May, the St. Mary Catholic Central High School community in Monroe celebrated 72 graduates in the Class of 2026. This month, they celebrate again, this time for the ordination of two SMCC alumni who were recently ordained priests and a third priest alumnus who celebrates a milestone anniversary.
As a graduate of the Class of 2005, Fr. Nathan Krawetzke, SJ, was ordained on June 13 in Milwaukee, Wisc., for the Society of Jesus, USA Midwest Province.
Fr. Drew Langton, Class of 2006, became a priest with the Diocese of Marquette on June 5.
Class of 2007 graduate Fr. Kevin Roelant celebrated the 10th anniversary of his ordination with the Archdiocese of Detroit on May 14. Fr. Roelant is the pastor of St. Thecla Parish in Clinton Township.
Different paths to the priesthood
While Fr. Roelant entered seminary following high school, Fr. Krawetzke attended the University of Dayton to study History and Religious Studies and then joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps to work with homeless youth in Alaska. As he began to consider the priesthood, and after visiting a seminary and several religious orders, he knew he was meant to live in community with the Jesuits.
“You can’t discern the abstract,” said Fr. Krawetzke. “Going to visit made it clear to me where I was being called within my vocation.”
Fr. Langton studied graphic design at Xavier University in Cincinnati and then worked until 2018, when he had a profound conversion experience after being away from the Church for several years.
“The idea of the priesthood came to me in prayer my senior year of high school, but I pushed it back. I didn’t really understand the priesthood then,” Fr. Langton said.
He spent time with the Companions of Christ the Lamb (CCL) in Paradise, Mich., located in the Upper Peninsula, entering their novitiate program. He realized after a year and a half that God was calling him to be a priest for the Diocese of Marquette; he had fallen in love with the Upper Peninsula and its people during his time with CCL.
High school influences
While each priest felt called to his religious vocation at a different point in his life, and to serve in different communities, all three say SMCC played a role in helping them be open to that call.
“I remember the soccer coach would gather us to say a Hail Mary before each game,” said Fr. Krawetzke. “As a young man, it was jarring on one hand to pray in front of people, but on the other hand, that made prayer feel normal and part of everyday life. The teachers there were good, humble, Catholic folks.”
In independent interviews, the three men named Theology teacher Ray Lauwers as a man who had a positive impact on their faith by his example. Lauwers coached the boys basketball team for 42 years at SMCC and taught for 59 years.
“When Mr. Lauwers taught Theology, he taught with conviction. These weren’t just ideas, they were real, and he believed them deeply. As he spoke about the truths of the faith, he knew they mattered,” said Fr. Langton. “Even if I didn’t understand everything at the time, I was inspired by that conviction.”
Frs. Krawetzke, Langton and Roelant also cited campus minister and theology teacher Tim Maag as being influential. Fr. Roelant took an Introduction to Spirituality class with Maag in his senior year and also participated in retreats and service trips led by Maag.
“The Intro to Spirituality class introduced me to different forms of spirituality, such as Ignatian, Franciscan,” said Fr. Roelant.
While attending a Steubenville Youth Conference after his junior year, Fr. Roelant experienced a profound encounter with Christ. It was the first time he felt that God might be calling him to the priesthood. Fr. Roelant entered seminary after he graduated from high school in 2007.
Delivering the mail
“Once you truly encounter Jesus, your life will never be the same,” said Maag, who retired last year. “And then we ask, ‘What will I do with that love?’ because we know from Jeremiah 29:11 that God has a great plan for each of us.”
As a campus minister at a small Catholic high school with fewer resources than some, Maag focused on one simple objective: to let students know that God loves them with an intensity beyond their understanding. He liked to teach Thomas Merton’s Prayer for Discernment, which expresses trust in the Lord and a desire to please Him as one discerns God’s call for his or her life.
Last year, Joe Boggs stepped into the role of SMCC campus minister when Maag retired. Boggs graduated from the school with Fr. Langton in 2006, and the two remain friends today. He recalls playing basketball in the Langtons’ barn for hours as a teen. Boggs also maintains a longtime friendship with Fr. Roelant, who served as the best man in his wedding in 2013.
“For me as campus minister, I just have to keep delivering the mail,” Boggs said. “Jesus has the message for them as to their vocation, and I just have to deliver it.”
To help students know and appreciate God’s word, Boggs runs a lunchtime Bible study for students, with up to 40 students participating each week. He encourages students to commit to summer experiences rooted in faith, such as Camp DeSales, SMCC mission trips to Kentucky and Guatemala, or opportunities through their parishes.
Whether God is calling students to a religious vocation, marriage, or single life, Boggs and school president Sean Jorgenson want SMCC to be a “discernment destination.”
“We know that vocations are the best way to heaven for each of us,” said Boggs. “Everything we do is directed to that goal of heaven, and so helping our students learn to trust God’s will for their life is part of that.”
Fr. Langton’s and Fr. Roelant’s vocations inspired Boggs’ own discernment. He is preparing to apply to the permanent diaconate program for the Archdiocese of Detroit.
“Joe is a man of great faith who is now serving the Lord as a campus minister,” said Langton. “He is an example of a beautiful vocation to married life.”
Staying connected and looking ahead
Each of the three priest alumni have been back to visit their alma mater. In December, Fr. Roelant, assisted by then-Deacon Krawetzke, celebrated a Mass for the senior class and their parents before the annual Christmas Ball. Earlier this year, Deacon Langton gave a vocations talk to male students in the school’s Infant of Prague Chapel.
Fr. Langton will be an associate pastor at St. Albert the Great University Parish at Michigan Technological University in Houghton. Fr. Krawetzke will serve at St. Mary Student Parish in Ann Arbor. Fr. Roelant will continue as pastor of St. Thecla.
Though the three priests will be scattered throughout the state, they hope to get together in the future, perhaps at the high school that unites them in a common bond.
