I was born on Mar 5, 1938 as the first child to Herman J. and Caroline A. (Buettner) Kaiser. As so many at that time, I was born at home, which was 6038 Yinger in Dearborn, MI. My siblings are a brother, Jack, five years younger, and Diane, seven years younger. We also count two other brothers, who keep us in prayer before the Lord, Eugene, who died at 2 years of age, and Dale, at birth.

In those earlier years, I recall spending a lot of time outside playing with the children on the block. We’d often go over to Ford’s Woods, when it was really a woods. We’d bike through the trails and build tree houses.

I attended Maples school for kindergarten, St. Alphonsus for grades 1 – 6, and St. Clement for grades 7 – 8. Our family had moved a few blocks east and one block south in 1945, to 5940 Ternes. I continued at St. Alphonsus school until 1950, when St. Clement’s school opened. Those were good years with the positive influence of the Dominican Sisters at St. Alphonsus school and the Bernadine Sisters at St. Clement’s School. I served as an altar boy at both parishes. Fr. Charles Fleckenstein stands out as a young assistant pastor at St. Clement’s, who related to us in elementary school. Pastors at St. Clement’s were Fr. Oakley and Fr. Wagener.

Why did I decide to enter the seminary for the 9^th grade of high school in Sept 1952? God’s grace was certainly at work in my life in so many ways. When I was in the 5^th grade, two cousins visited our family from Vincennes, Indiana. These brothers were both in the later years of college at St. Meinrad Seminary in Indiana. They made a big impression on me. I began corresponding with Larry Vieck. His brother is Hiliary Vieck. Over the next couple years, I began thinking about becoming a priest. At first, I wanted to go to St. Meinrad’s, where they were in formation, but later Sacred Heart Seminary was so much closer to home. Our 8^th grade teacher, Sr. Ernesta, was a key vocation promoter at St. Clement’s. She was well loved by all the students. Four boys went to the seminary for the 9^th grade and three sisters went to the convent. One of my classmates was Dale Melczek, who is currently bishop of Gary, Indiana. 

I caught two or three buses, depending on the route, each morning and afternoon, to attend Sacred Heart Seminary High School. My interests in those early years beyond studies were baseball, hockey, delivering papers and photography. I graduated from the seminary high school in June of 1956.

My life changed in college, because I moved out of the family home and into the seminary as a boarder. My extra curricular time was spent in the dark room, since I was the photographer for the seminary publication, called “The Gothic.” I also repaired book bindings for the seminary library, learned to play basketball, as well as continued to play hockey for the priests/seminarians team. We’d play every Wed afternoon at the Olympia, immediately after the Detroit Red Wings finished their practice.

In the summers of 1957, ‘58 and ’59, I worked for 8 weeks at Camp Glenbrook in Clinton, MI. St. Francis Home for Boys would send 40 boys out at a time for two weeks of camping experience. I was one of four counselors with the specific job of being the “nature counselor.” In June of 1960, Sacred Heart Seminary conferred upon me the Bachelor of Arts degree with majors in Philosophy and English, and minors in Social Science and Latin.

The next two summers I worked for Ford Motor Co., first as a driver of new cars around the Rotunda’s miniature test track. This was one of the tourists’ attractions in Dearborn. The following summer I led tours through Ford’s steel, engine  and assembly plants.

My four years of theological formation began in Sept 1960 at St. John’s Theological Seminary in Plymouth, MI.  Those were exciting years with Vatican Council II concurrently meeting in Rome. A new vision of church surfaced when Pope John 23^rd called for aggiornamento, that is, a church that speaks to the people and issues of the present day. Our courses in scripture, morality, sacraments, catechetics, social justice and liturgy, etc. spoke to our minds and hearts, and prepared us to take the Good News of Jesus and God’s Kingdom to the world. We also grew in awareness that the Holy Spirit was moving in the people of God. We were trained, as faith leaders, to relate and work collaboratively with the laity.

I was ordained a deacon in June, 1963. In June of 1964, the Catholic University of America, with its affiliate, St. John’s Theological Seminary, conferred on me the Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree. I was ordained to the priesthood of Jesus Christ by John Cardinal Dearden at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit on June 6, 1964. In total, our ordination class for the Archdiocese of Detroit, was the largest ever: 34.

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