Kacalo, 50, received an associate’s degree in hotel and restaurant management after high school. He worked in a department store for “many, many years” and then decided to go into business for himself in the Milwaukee area.

“I owned a restaurant and then a floral and gift shop,” he said. But he has found a similarity between both the jobs he has held and the new one on which he is embarking.

“All the career choices I’ve made have dealt with customer service,” said Kacalo. “And developing people skills is hopefully going to benefit me in service in the church.”

Over the years, the time came when Kacalo felt he couldn’t ignore the “callings” he’d been receiving for years.

“I knew that the calling has been with me my entire life, looking back in retrospect,” he said. “It took me all these years to discern God’s calling. I was also very influenced by Pope John Paul II’s millennium words when he said, ‘Open wide the doors to Christ.’”

Kacalo grew up in Wausaukee, a town of 500 people near the Michigan border. He was one of 48 people in his high school graduating class. Even there he felt the call of God around the age of 14.

“My first experience was a Marian encounter in my hometown parish of St. Augustine,” he said. “The church had a touring Our Lady of Fatima statue. After the liturgy, I remained behind and prayed to our Holy Mother. At that time I had the most loving embrace assure me that I was loved. Much like my mother’s love would’ve been.”

The members of the ordination class of 2006 have not yet learned in which parishes they will be placed, but Kacalo said he is most looking forward to achieving a simple goal.

“Just to be a humble servant to the church and the people of God,” he explained. Kacalo said that an aunt, some cousins and other members of his extended family and friends plan to attend his ordination. He is grateful for their support.

“I would say that they’ve been extremely supportive,” he said. “After coming to the end of this process, they’ve said, ‘Somehow I’ve known you should’ve been a priest.’ It’s been very rewarding for me to hear that from friends and family.” In reflecting on his life, and asked if he is surprised by this new chapter on which is he about to embark, he replied,” I don’t think it’s surprising; it’s an affirmation of those moments when I felt a sense of the Divine in my life to keep me moving towards the religious life,” Kacalo explained. “Discernment is not one of those things that hits you like a lightning bolt. Sometimes it takes a short amount of time, but in my case it took a long time.”

The journey to priesthood hasn’t always been easy for Kacalo. “The most Challenging part has been getting back into academics at this point in my life,” he said. “The discipline and perseverance. I probably didn’t have all the skills I needed at this point in my life to do the academics, so it was a struggle. I had to take baby steps.”

His array of interests parallel his array of careers. Kacalo said some of his favorites are cooking, entertaining, landscaping and “working in the dirt.”

“I love getting together with friends for a movie or dinner,” he said. “Or going to the ballet, symphony, theater, or just reading.”

Kacalo is also grateful for those in his life who have helped him make this decision to enter the priesthood. He hopes other men would have the same people in their lives, and offers them some advice.

“Two things — pray over what you’re contemplating and talk to a pastor or spiritual director who has gone through the process and can help guide you,” he said. “I think once I made the decision, I went to my pastor and told him I’d been praying about it. I needed someone to give me perspective and I went to him to help me sort it out.”

Kacalo has been serving as a deacon at the Basilica of St. Josaphat, and is very grateful to the people there. “I’m very honored to have the former pastor (Franciscan Fr. William Callahan) from the basilica come to my ordination to vest me,” he said, also thanking the entire pastoral staff from the basilica who have “been there for me every step of the way.”

In reflecting upon his body of work over the last five years at Saint Francis Seminary, Kacalo ponders what one of the biggest changes in his life will be. “I think that before my work experience and life experience was always focused on accomplishing things for myself,” he explained. “It’s no longer about myself. It’s about taking care of the people in my parish.”