DETROIT — Sacred Heart Major Seminary will welcome Fr. Kevin G. Creagh, CM, Ed.D., as its 15th rector and president starting July 1, succeeding current rector and president Fr. Stephen Burr, Detroit Archbishop Edward J. Weisenburger announced Jan. 13.

Fr. Burr, who has served at Sacred Heart since 2008 — and since 2021 as rector and president — will begin a new pastoral assignment July 1 serving primarily at St. Regis Parish in Bloomfield Hills, the archbishop announced.

Fr. Burr will continue to serve as rector and president of Detroit’s seminary until June 30.

In announcing the transition, Archbishop Weisenburger praised Fr. Burr’s many years of faithful service to Sacred Heart Major Seminary, which forms priests, deacons and lay leaders for ministry in the Archdiocese of Detroit and 14 other dioceses and religious communities.

“On behalf of the Archdiocese of Detroit and all dioceses and religious orders that partner with Sacred Heart Major Seminary for priestly formation, I’d like to begin by expressing my profound gratitude to Fr. Stephen Burr, who has served multiple roles on the faculty at Sacred Heart Major Seminary for 18 years and with great distinction,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “Part of Fr. Burr’s best qualifications to serve as rector include his love for parish pastoral ministry, so I am grateful that he has accepted this opportunity to share his gifts with the people of St. Regis Parish.”

While Fr. Burr will serve primarily at St. Regis, he will join the team of priests responsible for the pastoral care of St. Regis, St. Owen Parish in Bloomfield Hills, Holy Name Parish in Birmingham, and Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in Beverly Hills.

Fr. Charles Fox will continue to serve as Sacred Heart’s vice rector and dean of seminarian formation.

Fr. Burr expressed his gratitude for nearly two decades of service to the Sacred Heart community, adding he looks forward to returning to his “initial call” to parish ministry.

Fr. Burr said he looks forward to working with Fr. Creagh “and introducing him to the seminary community in the months to come,” he added. “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus continue to guide our mission and ministry.”

Fr. Creagh, a priest of the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians) currently serving outside the Archdiocese of Detroit, brings decades of experience forming priests and lay leaders and a heart for pastoral formation to Detroit’s historic seminary, Archbishop Weisenburger said.

Fr. Creagh, who grew up in New York and was ordained in 1996, has served in leadership in various higher education, formation and seminary roles over his 30 years as a priest, including as a teacher, formator, administrator and president-rector.

Most recently, Fr. Creagh served as vice president of mission integration at Catholic Health in Rockville Centre, N.Y., and he’s previously held positions in higher education administration at St. John’s University, Niagara University, and Christ the King Seminary, all in New York.

“Fr. Kevin Creagh brings to Sacred Heart Major Seminary his love for priestly formation and lifelong commitment to forming leaders for the Church,” Archbishop Weisenburger said. “His extensive experience in seminary leadership, diocesan administration, and Catholic higher education give him the expertise necessary to continue the mission of our historic seminary community. I am grateful that he, too, has agreed to share his myriad gifts in this new way, in support of Sacred Heart’s mission of forming hearts and minds to proclaim Jesus Christ.”

Before college, Fr. Creagh enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as an infantryman. He holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from St. John’s University in Queens, N.Y., two master’s degrees from the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception in Huntington, N.Y., and a doctoral degree in higher education management and policy from the University of Pennsylvania.

Inspired by the prayerfulness and hospitality of the Vincentian fathers and brothers who taught him, Fr. Creagh joined the religious order in 1991 and served in a number of ministries in the Vincentian community, including as a missionary in Taiwan and later as vocations director for the New York-based province and as superior of the Vincentian community at Niagara University from 2012-18.

After ordination, Fr. Creagh served in various faculty and administrative leadership positions at Niagara University and St. John’s University — both sponsored by the Vincentians — including as vice president for international relations at Niagara University, during which time he helped increase international enrollment by 35%.

From 2019 to 2021, Fr. Creagh served as president-rector of Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, N.Y., while also serving as vicar for evangelization and ministerial formation for the Diocese of Buffalo, N.Y. Fr. Creagh currently serves as a trustee at Niagara University, St. John’s University, St. Joseph’s Seminary in Yonkers, N.Y., and Holy Cross High School in Flushing, N.Y.

In being called to Detroit, Fr. Creagh thanked Archbishop Weisenburger for his trust and said he looked forward to leading Detroit’s seminary community, which he called a “vibrant” center for evangelization and formation.

“I look forward to this opportunity to be of service to Sacred Heart Major Seminary, a vibrant community committed to preparing priests, deacons, laity, and religious for the work of ministry in the New Evangelization,” Fr. Creagh said. “I am grateful to Archbishop Weisenberger for his invitation to consider me for this important role in the life of the seminary and for his wise counsel and fraternal care in my discernment.”

Sacred Heart Seminary was established in 1919 to form priests for the growing Diocese of Detroit, and became a major seminary in 1988 with the addition of a Graduate School of Theology. It has remained under the care of the Archdiocese of Detroit, but educates and forms seminarians and lay students from dioceses and religious communities throughout Michigan and the Midwest.

Under Fr. Burr’s leadership, Sacred Heart saw several improvements and advancements, including the addition of new satellite campuses, the seminary’s first fully online graduate program, a newly renovated auditorium, a new propaedeutic program for first-year seminarians, and an international conference in 2025 celebrating the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea.

Ordained in 2002, Fr. Burr has served Sacred Heart as rector-president, vice rector and in various leadership and faculty roles, including as a theology instructor, formation advisor to graduate and undergraduate seminarians, and as dean of seminarian formation.

A graduate of the seminary he now leads, Fr. Burr said he’s blessed by the many gifts God has bestowed through his time at Sacred Heart.

“I am grateful for the opportunity to have served the Church as the Rector and President of Sacred Heart Major Seminary and in all my roles at the seminary,” Fr. Burr said. “My 18 years of service on the faculty have been a gift to me and a blessing to my living as a priest of Jesus Christ.”

Prior to his seminary work, Fr. Burr served in parish ministry at St. Andrew Parish in Rochester (2002-05), Divine Child Parish in Dearborn (2005-07) and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Plymouth (2007-08). He also served as chaplain to Brother Rice and Marian high schools in Bloomfield Hills.

While at Sacred Heart, Fr. Burr also served as a weekend associate at St. Mary Parish in Wayne and St. John Vianney Parish in Shelby Township, and as pastor of Presentation/Our Lady of Victory Parish in Detroit (2017-21).

As he returns to parish ministry, Fr. Burr said he’s eager to serve Jesus and the people of God at St. Regis — an assignment made all the richer by his time at Sacred Heart.

“By the work of the Holy Spirit, and through the leadership of Archbishop Weisenburger, God has called me once again to parish ministry, and I am excited to make this return to God’s initial call in my life,” Fr. Burr said. “I look forward to sharing how I know and trust Jesus Christ with the people at St. Regis and pray that the last 18 years of seminary leadership have been a time to refine me to be their priest.”