Deacon Michael Misulia: ‘Everything I’ve been looking for’

Note: Archbishop William E. Lori will ordain six men to the priesthood June 22 at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. The following is a profile of one of those future priests. New profiles of the other new priests will be added to the Catholic Review site daily from June 16 to June 21. Click here to read them.

Many Catholics throughout the Archdiocese of Baltimore have been touched by the musical witness of the Misulia family. 

Deacon Michael Misulia, 35, considers himself blessed to be part of this family dynamic, often accompanying his father, George, on the piano or guitar during Mass. 

“As soon as we could plunk out a few chords on a piano, we were up there doing it,” remembered Deacon Misulia, who will be ordained a priest June 22 at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland.

Deacon Misulia’s family subculture fostered a strong sense of spirituality as well. He remembers attending daily Mass during summer vacation and sharing a holy hour with his parents and four brothers at the adoration chapel in his home parish of St. Peter the Apostle in Libertytown. 

Growing up, Deacon Misulia said he was “obsessed” with the idea of becoming a surgeon.

“My mom was an oncology nurse,” he said. “And my uncle was an emergency room physician. So I was super interested in medicine.”

Deacon Misulia, who was homeschooled, attended University of Maryland, College Park, for his undergraduate degree in neurophysiology. It was in those years that his faith in Christ deepened as he committed to daily prayer and regularly visited a eucharistic adoration chapel.

He encountered Christ as a person who cared about him and who he could get to know, he said.

“Everything just seemed to turn upside down after that and my desires started to transform,” he said.

After a year of working in an emergency room in Washington, D.C., Deacon Misulia was accepted as a candidate for the priesthood by the Archdiocese of Baltimore and began formation at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg. Yet the idea of becoming a surgeon still tugged at his heart and he left formation after two years to enter Rush University Medical College in Chicago.

“I felt like I was doing really well in a secular sense, and I was so sure this life was going to make me happy – and I think it actually would have been a wonderful life for someone who was made for it,” he said, “but when I came home at the end of the day, I had this sense that something was missing.”

Those misgivings led Deacon Misulia to seek guidance from the Holy Spirit, who ultimately guided him back to seminary after Deacon Misulia had spent two years in medical school. This time, he was assigned to St. Mary’s Seminary in Roland Park.

Upon returning to formation, Deacon Misulia said, he encountered an “existential level of stability and peace” he had never before experienced.

“I call it joy because it’s different from happiness; happiness is transient, but this was something completely new,” he remembered. “It was a sense of peace I didn’t even know was possible, as I searched for my place in the universe. I finally have this awareness that a little puzzle piece has fallen into place. It’s very durable, and it’s everything I have been looking for.”

This charism of joy has accompanied Deacon Misulia throughout his diaconate year at the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen in Homeland. He was especially honored to sing the Exsultet (the proclamation of Easter) at the Easter Vigil.

As Deacon Misulia reflected on his future as a priest, he indicated that he is eager to share his joy with parishioners, as well as his brother priests. 

“There is an unbelievable outpouring of joy within the ministry itself,” he said. “I cannot wait to be with families and share their lives with them. I want to be there – supporting them, consoling them and praying with them. It’s amazing to experience the blessings God has locked away for people who are engaged in ministry.”

Editor’s Note: This article was updated June 27, 2024 to correct multiple reporting errors.

Click play below to listen to a 2023 Catholic Review Radio interview with Michael Misulia before he was ordained a transitional deacon.

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