Our Seminarians

Deacon Christian Francke
St. Mary's Seminary, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Saint Thomas More, Scranton, Pennsylvania
Originally from Bergenfield, New Jersey, Christian attended the College of William & Mary where he studied political science and linguistics. He was actively involved with Canterbury Episcopal Campus Ministry and Bruton Parish Episcopal Church. In 2013, after being received into the Catholic Church, he felt an even stronger call to the priesthood—a call he had sensed for several years prior to his conversion. After shifting his academic focus, he earned a BA in Catholic Philosophical Theology from Seton Hall University and worked in campus ministry in Newark, NJ. He began regular visits to St. Thomas More Parish in Scranton, PA continuing to discern a vocation to the priesthood attending Discernment Days at the Cathedral in Houston. Christian entered priestly formation in the fall of 2020.  With gratitude for your prayers, and through the intercession of Our Lady of Walsingham, St. Thomas More, and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Christian looks forward to ordination to the transitional diaconate on May 28, 2025.  

Deacon Andrew Yaremko
 St. Mary's Seminary, Houston, Texas
 Home Parish: Saint Thomas More, Toronto, Ontario 

Andrew was born in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, to a loving family and is the third of four boys. He attended Catholic school and at the age of seven became an altar boy at his home parish of St. Josephs where he was greatly influenced by his many priests and learned a love for the Holy Mass and serving at God’s altar. Fascinated by the natural world and the beauty of God’s creation, he studied at York University where he earned a Bachelor of Environmental Studies with a minor in music and concurrently a Bachelor of Education. Feeling God’s call to the priesthood throughout his life and most intensely at the end of his university studies, he entered seminary in Toronto. He later became acquainted with the Ordinariate and fell in love with its reverent liturgy and Anglican patrimony. He left seminary formation and completed a Master of Divinity at the Toronto School of Theology. He has been serving at the Ordinariate parish of St. Thomas More in Toronto, for the past two years, and is now in his first year of formation at St. Mary’s Seminary in Houston. Andrew will be ordained to the transitional diaconate on May 28, 2025. 

Brian Wehrle
St. Mary's Seminary, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Annunciation, Ottawa, Ontario

Brian Wehrle hails from Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Catholic Church in Ottawa, Canada. Born in Winnipeg, Brian was raised in the Anglican Choral tradition, and studied at the Royal School of Church Music. Upon completing a Licentiate in Music in voice at McGill University in Montreal, Brian worked as a professional singer, performing throughout the US and Canada. He left the world of opera behind to study theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary in Wisconsin, where he completed a Master of Divinity, in 2023. Brian worked at churches in England, Canada, and the US, and spent a semester at St. Stephen’s House, Oxford. He was drawn back to his Catholic roots during the pontificate of Benedict XVI, and began his “journey home” at the time of the canonization of John Henry Newman. He was received into the Church several years later and inaugurated a programme of faith formation in his home parish of Annunciation and directed a men’s schola. 

Michael Ullrich
St. Mary's Seminary, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas

Michael grew up Catholic in Houston, Texas. He began attending the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham with his family in 2017. He began to hear God calling him to the priesthood in the quiet moments serving Mass and in brief recollections in prayer. Attending University of Dallas, he began to consider the priesthood seriously as his prayer life matured and deepened. In Spring 2021, he went on retreat to Our Lady of Clear Creek Abbey then attended Discernment Days in Houston.  At the discernment retreat, he learned about the priesthood, seminary, and the particular evangelizing mission of the Ordinariate.  He entered formation with the Ordinariate in January 2023.

Luis Araiza
St. Mary's Seminary, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas

Luis Araiza was born in Mexico and grew up in the city of Los Mochis (Sinaloa). He moved to Monterrey (Nuevo Leon) to major in Accounting and Finance from the Instituto Tecnologico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). He worked as a corporate accountant, external financial auditor, internal auditor, and helped create and manage a small venture capital that developed technology for Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) for the farming industry. In August 2019 he was hired in Houston as an internal auditor and ended up “by accident” at Epiphany Lessons and Carols of January 2020.  For the next two years he discerned the priesthood at the Cathedral, was instituted as an acolyte, and began studies at Saint Mary’s Seminary in August 2023. 

Preston Shaver
St. Mary's Seminary, Houston, Texas
Home Parish: Christ the King, Towson, Maryland 

Preston began attending his home parish of Christ the King in Towson, Maryland in 2020. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in History in 2024 from Loyola University Maryland. While in college he remained active at Christ the King, the Knights of Columbus Council at Loyola and worked for his family in the pension industry. His discernment began while in college, assisted by frequent attendance of daily Mass, the fellowship of Loyola Knights of Columbus, and guidance from priests at Christ the King. Summer of 2023, he attended Ordinariate Discernment Days in Houston and entered seminary the fall after graduating.  

Christopher Ullrich
Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus, Ohio
Home Parish: Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas 

Christopher is from the Cathedral community. He was raised in Katy, Texas and attended Benedictine College for four years. He was a volunteer and instructor at Family Education Institute. He is a knight of Columbus and led the council at Benedictine serving in various roles. The summer of 2022, he worked on the Value them Both Campaign in Kansas, supporting legislation that Kansas might keep its laws restricting abortion, protecting both women and children. He began priestly formation in the fall of 2024. 

Ian Calkins 
Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus, Ohio
Home Parish: Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham, Houston, Texas

Ian has been a parishioner of the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham since 2014. He graduted from Holy House Academy at the Cathedral. During his senior year, he started discerning his vocation, deciding to apply to the program of priestly formation. He is currently in his Propaedeutic year at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio. The Propaedeutic year is a recently implemented program in seminaries that is more focused on discernment and spiritual growth. Over the summer, he looks forward to being a counselor at the Pines Catholic Camp in Tyler, Texas. He hopes to enter the Josephinum’s college seminary program in the Fall. His patron saint is Saint Francis of Assisi, and he enjoys learning new hobbies, making rosaries, building things, and playing sports.

Joshua Culhane 
Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus, Ohio
Home Parish: Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, Texas

Joshua began attending Our Lady of the Atonement Catholic Church with his family in 2016 and started serving at Mass there around a year later. Throughout his frequent service at the altar, Joshua developed a growing sense of a possible call to the priesthood. With the encouragement of his pastor, friends, and family, he began more seriously discerning the priestly vocation after attending his first Ordinariate Discernment Days retreat in 2023. He attended Discernment Days again in 2024, and following this, determined that God was calling him to enter seminary after finishing his college studies.  Joshua started his college education online at Holy Apostles College and Seminary while in his junior year of high school, graduating with an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts at the end of his senior year in 2024. He continued his studies for another year and a half to obtain a Bachelor of Arts in English & Humanities and History & Social Sciences. He is now beginning his priestly formation in fall 2025 at the Pontifical College Josephinum where he hopes to be better formed in Jesus Christ, His Savior.  

Luke Westerman 
Pontifical College Josephinum, Columbus, Ohio
Home Parish: St. Barnabas, Omaha, Nebraska

A native of California, Luke was born the third of seven children to a devout Catholic family. He began to discern a vocation while serving at Our Lady of Walsingham in 2017. During Covid his family relocated to Omaha, Nebraska where he began serving at St. Barnabus. Luke attended Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas and graduated with a degree in Political Science. Following graduation he spent a year in Washington, DC where he interned for a small lobbying firm and then for a congressman on Capitol Hill. While in DC, he went on a discernment retreat where his call to a priestly vocation became clear. He continues to be very inspired by his older brother, Father Andrew Westerman.