Some folks may remember Paul Graney from the three years he spent as a defenseman – or blueliner – for Oxford High School’s first-ever varsity hockey team.

He still hits the ice for the occasional game, but these days, the 2003 OHS graduate is more interested in saving souls than preventing goals.

On Saturday, Graney, 31, was ordained as a Catholic priest for the Archdiocese of Detroit at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on Woodward Ave.

“It was amazing, the whole thing,” he said. “There was beautiful music. The whole cathedral was packed. A good number of priests from the archdiocese showed up. It was wonderful.”

His first assignment will be at Our Lady of Sorrows Parish in Farmington. He’ll start there on July 1.

Graney, the son of Paul and Judy Graney, attended Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy in 2012, followed by his Master of Divinity this year.

Though he was baptized Catholic and went through the catechism program at St. Joseph in Lake Orion, Graney isn’t one of those guys who grew up wanting to become a priest.

In fact, there was a period, starting in his teen years, when he fell away from the Catholic Church and began practicing Evangelical Christianity.

He found the Catholic Mass to be a “boring, mundane experience.”

“I really didn’t like it,” Graney said. “It wasn’t appealing to me as a teenager.”

During this time, he had some friends who participated in a weekly evangelical youth ministry at Christ the King Church in Oxford.

“They invited me and I started going,” he said. “I liked it a lot more. It was way more exciting. They had rock ‘n’ roll music and guitars. I felt more connected there with people my age. I just liked the atmosphere better.”

While attending Oakland University, Graney decided he wanted to become an evangelical minister.

“I was sitting in my dorm room one day and the idea of being a minister (entered) my mind,” he said. “(From then on), that was the only thing I wanted to do. It was an instant change . . . So, I went with it.”

Graney spent a total of four years pursuing this path, first at Elim Bible Institute in Lima, New York, then at Nyack College in New York City.

Along the way, Graney realized he wanted and needed “a deeper spirituality than what Evangelicalism could offer.”

He started reading the works of the Church Fathers, the ancient and influential theologians, scholars, writers and teachers whose seminal works formed the foundation of Western Christianity.

It was the influence of these early writings that ultimately led the then-23-year-old Graney to embrace the faith he had been raised in.

“I decided this is the real church and so I came back,” he said.

Soon after, Graney placed himself on the path to priesthood.

Being a priest is quite different than serving as an evangelical minister because the former means giving up the possibility of someday having a wife and children.

But Graney is okay with making this significant sacrifice because to him, being a priest means living “day-to-day” like Jesus Christ did when He walked the Earth.

“He was not a married person. He didn’t have any kids,” he said.

Graney hopes that by “imitating” Christ’s life, he can better understand Him and become more connected to Him.

Serving as “an agent of mercy” – hearing the confession of sins, assigning penance and imparting absolution – is a particularly appealing aspect of the priesthood for Graney.

“God wants so badly to give Himself to all of us and forgive us for everything,” he said.

Graney really enjoys working one-on-one with people like he did during his two summer internships at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Basilica in Royal Oak.

Almost every week, he would bring Holy Communion to a homebound, elderly gentleman, then sit and chat with him for a half-hour or so.

“I really appreciated the time I had with him. It was special,” Graney said. “He’d really look forward to me coming. He was a big (Detroit) Tigers fan, so we’d talk about them (and) his kids. We’d pray together, pray for his family. Seeing how much comfort that brought to him really made me appreciate what I want to do with my life.”

In his spare time, Graney enjoys playing golf and hockey when he has the opportunity, brewing his own beer and trying to learn guitar.