God’s timing: Father Michael Ciski, TOR, celebrates 25 years of priesthood
Father Mike Ciski, TOR, marked the 25th anniversary of his ordination on Sunday, November 23, 2025, at Good Shepherd Parish in Colleyville. (NTC/Kevin Bartram)
COLLEYVILLE — God's call to priesthood rang early for Father Michael Ciski, TOR.
Or so he's been told.
An old friend from Fr. Ciski's school days wrote him upon learning of his decision to enter the seminary.
“She said, 'What took you so long?' the priest recalled. “Said she remembered me talking about becoming a priest back in second grade. Which I don't remember at all.
But it must have been there from way back and later, things in life just sort of led me that direction.”
Fr. Ciski, who serves as pastor of Colleyville's Good Shepherd Church, celebrated his 25th anniversary of ordination on Nov. 18.
Grade school intentions aside, the priest, 66, entered seminary later in life.
“One year, my older brother aged me a year as a joke,” Fr. Ciski said with a laugh. “But I finally figured it out and think I'm 66 now.”
Cradle Catholic and born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, he sums up his early upbringing as Mass on Sundays traditional Catholic with few additional frills.
From pills to pews
Witty, engaging, and warm of personality, the pastor laughed when asked how he spent the first 30-odd years of his life.
“You need to know my sense of humor,” Fr. Ciski joked. “I say that's all confessional.”
The truth, it turns out, is substantially less scandalous. He entered college intending to pursue a pharmacology degree.
“I did four of a five-year program, took a semester off and that semester lasted 12 years,” Fr. Ciski said.
With a house, a car, and girlfriend, life was good, he said, on the surface at least.
“Everything was nice. But something was missing.”
Restless perhaps, he left the Church for several years and attended churches of various denominations.
“They were all nice too,” Fr. Ciski said. “But there was something missing there as well.”
The Franciscan friar admits that he didn't know exactly what was missing, until he did.
“I realized it was God. It was the Church, and I came to realize it was the sacraments, especially the Eucharist.”
That which he couldn't put his finger on now seems clear as day, the priest said.
“When I walked back into a Catholic church, I felt the presence of God there as opposed to walking into another church, where it's a big auditorium,” Fr. Ciski said. “I still get that feeling on Good Friday when we don't have the Eucharist in the tabernacle. You walk into the church, and it just feels funny.”
A father formed
In addition to the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and confession, he cites relationships formed as his favorite aspects of priesthood. The priest appreciates especially opportunities to counsel, comfort, and interact with couples getting married and parishioners suffering the loss of a loved one.
“Being able in both cases to walk with them on those journeys,” Fr. Ciski said.
Early Mass, he joked when asked his least favorite aspect.
“I'm not a morning person.”
But even there are still lessons learned.
“One of my best experiences of being a priest happened one Father's Day. I was on call, and we had early morning Mass at 7 a.m., which again — I'm not a morning person.”
Hospital calls at all hours kept Fr. Ciski busy that day.
“By the last, I was thinking why can't everybody get sick at the same time?” the priest said. “Then I thought, if I was a parent and my kid was sick, I'd be getting up all night to do this. And that hit with the reality of what a father really is.”
Consider the voice
Among current-day challenges facing the Church, Fr. Ciski lists social media and the internet.
“I think it's people always being connected to their phone or some device at the cost of relationship with one another,” he said. “I hear from people who suffer from a lot of what's out there on the internet or admitting how much time they waste scrolling through their phone. It's hard to put that stuff down.
“That was my homily this weekend. What voice do you listen to? The voice of God, or the voice of the world?”
And yet, even there is opportunity, Fr. Ciski added.
“With social media and the internet, I think we need to find more ways within the Catholic Church to do more positive things with those. That I think could be very helpful, especially with younger people.”
Crosswords and Crossroads
The priest fills his scant free time with crossword puzzles, travel, and reading — biographies and history mainly.
A photo of him and his brother in front of the Eiffel Tower sits atop a table in his office, a trip taken in honor of their late sister's memory.
On a more upbeat note, Fr. Ciski laughed while recalling seeing Pope Leo on a recent pilgrimage.
“One of our pilgrims has a White Sox pennant,” he said. “The Pope saw it and gave our group a thumbs up.”
Joyful surprise, he said of Pope Leo's election.
“No, I never thought we'd see an American pope. At least not in our lifetime.”