Deacon Kyle Lang prepares for ordination with a heart for parish life
Story by Mary Kay McPartlin
Growing up in West Salem with his older brother and parents, Deacon Kyle Lang learned the faith by watching it lived. His parents were active in their parish, St. Teresa of Kolkata (formerly St. Leo the Great), and the family was, as Deacon Kyle puts it, “very faithful.” He also admits, with characteristic honesty, that he took it for granted.
The Faith Grows
Kyle’s parents, who were public school teachers in Onalaska and West Salem at the elementary and middle school levels, centered their lives around family and faith. Their work schedule aligned with their sons’ school schedules and allowed the Langs to spend plenty of time together during the school year and holidays. Deacon Kyle especially recalls the family times spent camping and appreciating nature.
After graduating from high school, Deacon Kyle moved east to attend Princeton University. Like many young people, the faith practices from his family became his own in college.
While his experience of faith in high school mainly involved attending Mass, with less focus on developing a personal and robust prayer life, surprising changes occurred in college. “I assumed my faith practices would remain the same,” Deacon Kyle admits, “going to church on Sundays while neglecting my prayer life.”
It was Deacon Kyle’s friends who helped him discover a depth to faith that went beyond just attending Mass. He discovered the joy of doing God’s work.
“I was struck by two things,” Deacon Kyle says. “My friends were not only smarter and wiser than me, but they also lived their intellectual commitments to the Faith in a way that truly mattered. Mass was not just a Sunday obligation for them; it practically and tangibly affected how they lived their week. That was very attractive, and eventually, you start to adopt the habits of your friends.”
A Place at the Table
That deepening at Princeton gave Deacon Kyle a perspective on young people and the Church that has stayed with him. He sees a generation that has tried the alternatives and has been left wanting more.
“For a couple of generations, we’ve tried living life without God,” Deacon Kyle states. “Young adults are realizing that the world does not adequately answer the deepest questions we face. We are not just horizontal, flat beings; we are both body and soul.”
People come to the Church with different needs and can absorb different aspects of life as Catholics. Deacon Kyle likes to compare the Faith to a banquet, an image often used by Jesus in His parables.
The Church is like a great feast,” he explains. “She desires all to participate. If we aren’t ready for all 16 courses, maybe we begin with one. But importantly, we are still participating in the banquet. The mind of the Church is not, ‘here come the scholars’ or ‘here come the athletes.’ Rather, it’s ‘here comes everybody.'”
He observed this dynamic while serving on the ministry team at Princeton. As the service chair, he organized volunteer outings at different locations, including a soup kitchen and a farm.
Some weeks, only a few people volunteered, and other weeks, a large group of people pitched in.
“I’ve come to realize that people can evangelize and bring people to Christ in any number of activities and places. An absence of presence at these events doesn’t indicate a lack of presence elsewhere.”
Which Path to Take?
As his Princeton years drew to a close, Deacon Kyle was weighing futures. There was always the possibility of working in a big city, commanding a large salary. But he could also see himself in a small town, trading salary for service. And then a third possibility surfaced—one that, in hindsight, had been present for a long time.
In third grade, young Kyle had dressed as a priest for Halloween and trick-or-treated through the neighborhood in his version of clerics.
The choice that presented itself at graduation was more concrete: teach religion and English in a small town in “the middle of nowhere” or move closer to discerning a calling to the priesthood. He chose the latter, moving in with a group of priests in Madison to begin discernment in earnest. Life among those priests gave him what he needed to take the next step: seminary.
All Roads Lead to Rome
During his propaedeutic year, Deacon Kyle lived in La Crosse as he prepared for his new life. He spent his first year in seminary at St. Francis de Sales in Milwaukee. That summer, he took additional courses to qualify for his move to Rome, where he would continue his studies at the Pontifical North American College (PNAC).
After completing the prerequisites, Deacon Kyle traveled to Rome to attend PNAC. While he spent much of the next four years there, he also had opportunities to serve the Church in a variety of settings.
During his second summer at PNAC, for example, Deacon Kyle volunteered at Casa Hogar in Peru. Spread across countries and cultures, these experiences prepared him for the kind of ministry that awaited him: parish life, where the feast is open to everyone who walks through the door.
The time he spent with people from diverse backgrounds and environments was a gift. It also served as an excellent prelude to parish life, helping him better understand the needs of his future parishioners. “It’s important for us to be surrounded by people at all stages of life throughout our journey. Christ cares about each of us at every phase of our lives.”
His years at PNAC also placed him at two extraordinary moments in Church history. He was present in Rome for the deaths of both Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. He was also in St. Peter’s Square on Easter Sunday when Pope Francis gave his final Urbi et Orbi blessing, only hours before his death on Easter Monday.
The conclave began on May 7, and Deacon Kyle and his classmates followed it closely. They joined thousands in St. Peter’s Square on the evening of the first day. The following day, he planned to remain in the library to study, assuming it was unlikely a new Holy Father would be elected so quickly.
At 5:30 p.m., he was still in the library. Initially, he intended to keep studying, since white smoke seemed unlikely. But at 5:40 p.m., he changed his mind and walked down to the square. When the white smoke appeared only 27 minutes later, Deacon Kyle’s first thought was, “There goes my evening.”
As a resident of Rome, Pope Leo XIV has become a source of inspiration for Deacon Kyle in his ministry as a shepherd. “He’s my local bishop,” Deacon Kyle explains. “He carries the weight of the office very well. One thing he is doing right now is visiting many of the parishes on the outskirts of Rome.
The Sacrament of Holy Orders
Deacon Kyle will be ordained on June 27 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse. As throughout his life, his family will play a pivotal role.
“I tell people my mom is more excited than I am,” he says with a laugh. “My family has been wonderful and supportive. I’m especially excited to have my grandparents there. My maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother have been heroes in my life. Both are daily Mass-goers, and I see so much wisdom in their love for our family and their commitment to the sacraments.”
As he prepares for life as a diocesan priest, Deacon Kyle looks forward to celebrating the sacraments with his parishioners.
“I’m looking forward to the surprises of each day,” he says. “In the life of a priest or religious, we are set apart from the world to cling more closely to the divine. I’m grateful to devote myself fully to the affairs of the Lord.”
Family, he notes, is at the heart of parish life, and he looks forward to building relationships within his new parish community. “I’m looking forward to sharing meals with many different families, knowing that each home will have its own character and traditions,” Deacon Kyle says.
The Call to the Priesthood
When asked what advice he would give someone considering the priesthood, Deacon Kyle is brief and direct. “Do it!” he says. “It’s a very joyful thing to be this close to the Lord. He came that we might have life more abundantly.”
He believes the discernment process should not be unnecessarily stressful and that it requires more than abstract thought to understand God’s call.
“We are following a God of love and joy, not a God of angst,” Deacon Kyle explains. “Does God want me to become a priest? The answer comes through a deep friendship with Jesus in prayer and the Sacraments and through serving others—your family, your neighbors and the poor.