What is divinization? What is the Synod? What it means to you.

Live at OLG: Third Thursday of Every Month

Cocktails. Mocktails. Conversations that Matter.

Upcoming Date: Thursday, November 16
Time: 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Location: Our Lady of Grace, Edina

Divinization: “The Son of God became man so that we might become God” (CCC 460). What does this even mean? How is the Archbishop asking us as young professionals to respond and participate in proclaiming the Good News at a local level? International Speaker and Director of the Office of Synod Evangelization, Deacon Michalak, joins us Thursday, November 16th to tackle these questions and provide practical advice on our responsibility to live the Synod personally and locally as a part of the body of Christ.

Live at OLG is free and open to all young professionals (ages 21 - 35)!
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For over ten years, Deacon Michalak lived as a member of a lay ecumenical brotherhood and served in evangelistic and formational work in Michigan, London (England) and Minnesota.  Since 1997, he has served as adjunct faculty in theology at the University of St. Thomas and at the Saint Paul Seminary and is an instructor in the Archdiocese’s Catechetical Institute and School of Prayer.

Deacon Michalak recently completed 23 years as Director of the Institute for Diaconate Formation at the Saint Paul Seminary, and he has preached retreats or taught in about 50 dioceses in the United States, Canada, Ireland, and Northern Ireland.  He is a regular conference speaker, has served on the national board for deacon directors, and develops resources for forming other deacon directors.  He is one of four deacons speaking in the Deacon Track at next July’s Eucharistic Congress.

In May 2022, Archbishop Hebda asked Deacon Michalak to transition to a newly created role as Director of the Office of Synod Evangelization for the Archdiocese and to assume responsibility for implementing the Archdiocese’s three-year synod, form missionary disciples, and form future formators.

Deacon Michalak and his Scottish wife Anne have five children. Though in exile in Minnesota from his boyhood Pittsburgh home, he remains an avid Pirates and Steelers fan, and, as a good father should, has passed that love on to his children.

Deacon Michalak was ordained in September 2010, and after 10 years at Holy Spirit parish, now serves at Little Sisters of the Poor in St. Paul.