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May 2008 Issue
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A seminarian's goal: priesthood and
a chance to bring people closer to God
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For
Dave Gross, 32, the call to the priesthood didn’t come
like a thunderbolt. Instead it was a sign here, a sign
there, a gentle pull toward serving God and a church
that’s been present in his life since early childhood. |
“It
really wasn’t one thing,” Dave says now, reflecting on the
path that led him to seminary. As a young boy, he’d wanted
to be a priest. He would later put that dream aside and instead
become a teacher at a Catholic high school; but God kept tapping
his shoulder. Helping with retreats and youth ministry got
Dave thinking about priesthood again as he watched the way
priests helped young people connect with God. “A lot of it
was … just seeing the joy that the relationship with God brought
to other people,” he recalls. He decided to spend his seventh
year of teaching discerning whether to attend seminary. He’d
have “conversations with God” and would bump into people out
of the blue who’d ask whether he’d ever considered priesthood.
Toward the end of that year he attended a youth ministry work
trip in Baltimore. The answer came to him during a 90-minute
eucharistic adoration. “I was kneeling there praying. Finally,
I said, `OK God, if this is where you want me to go, I’ll
go.’ I decided that I was going to start seminary and haven’t
looked back since,” he said. That was July 2004. Dave applied
for and was accepted to the seminary in Fall 2005. He has
completed his second year in seminary and is interning at
St. Jean Baptiste and St. Mary churches in Muskegon. He’s
one of 10 young men studying for the priesthood in Grand Rapids,
and they have in common a deep spirituality that Father Ron
Hutchinson, director of priestly vocations for the Diocese
of Grand Rapids, sees as a hopeful sign. “I notice the young
people I encounter today are just extremely spiritual people,”
Father Hutchinson said. “They’re really trying to fi gure
out how to serve God in their lives.”
Early
inklings of a call
Even
as a very young child, Dave Gross had a sense of being called
to serve God. On a 30-day Ignatian retreat last summer, Dave
remembered a dream he’d had in first grade.
“It was just an image of Jesus sitting by a river calling
me to himself,” he recalled. “I’ve always had this love for
God and love for the church (a sense that) He was calling
me to do something. It just kind of developed over time.”
The oldest of three, Dave grew up in a family deeply committed
to its faith; both of his parents, Len and Robbie, have always
been active in their parish and have had several priests as
friends. “So I got to know a lot of priests in different situations
and appreciated them and their lifestyle,” Dave said. Another
influence was his uncle and godfather, Brother Vincent Gross,
CSC, a Holy Cross brother who serves in Ghana, Africa.
By
the fourth grade, if you’d asked Dave what he wanted to do
when he grew up he’d have a ready answer: “Be a priest.” He
became an altar server that year and participated in the parish’s
active youth ministry in middle school. His family moved to
a house a couple of blocks away from St. Stephen, so helping
out came naturally. He’d stuff bulletins on Friday afternoon
and later took summer jobs mowing the rectory lawn and doing
maintenance around the school. During his sophomore year at
Catholic Central High School in Grand Rapids, Dave joined
the vocations club. Toward the end of high school, however,
he reconsidered. “By the time I was a senior I decided that
I wasn’t headed toward the priesthood,” he said. “I wanted
to be a teacher instead and teach at a Catholic school.”
Dave,
who ran track and cross-country at Catholic Central, had been
student manager of the school’s basketball team. He chose
the University of Michigan on the strength of its basketball
program. As he pursued a degree in secondary education with
a major in math and a minor in physics, Dave worked as a manager
of U-M’s then highly ranked basketball squad.
Even
though he’d decided not to pursue the priesthood, “my faith
stayed something that was very central and strong in my life,”
he recalls.
At
the University of Michigan, Dave participated in the student
parish as a lector, altar server and eucharistic minister.
On road trips with the Wolverines’ basketball team, one of
his jobs was to find a Catholic Mass for coach Steve Fisher
to attend.
Immediately
after graduation he accepted a job teaching math and physics
at Catholic Central. He later served as a technology director
for both Catholic Central and West Catholic, along with the
Catholic secondary schools office.
Discernment
Dave
became involved in a young adult group at St. Stephen, and
volunteered in youth ministry.
“One
of the things that got me thinking about priesthood again
was working with youth ministry,” he recalled. “Going on retreats
with the kids and just seeing their reaction to priests and
to youth ministers – and seeing the joy it brought to them.”
He decided to spend a year discerning whether to stay with
teaching or pursue priesthood. Dave would often have “conversations
with God” during the process.
“It was just meditations I’d have, thinking of my life and
thinking about the gifts (God) had given to me and how best
to use those.” That year, Father Paul Milanowski – who also
happened to be the diocesan vocations director at the time
– became pastor at St. Stephen. “I took that as a sign from
God that he was trying to tell me something,” Dave said. Then
one night, after a Catholic Central football game, Dave was
chatting with one of his students, who mentioned to Dave that
he would be teaching her younger sibling. He replied that
he’d actually been considering the seminary. The student replied,
“I know you’re going.”
“So
a lot of people knew it before I did apparently,” Dave recalled.
Toward the end of that year, he received a letter from his
maternal grandparents saying they’d been praying for him to
become a priest since he had been born, but had never told
him. Nor had Dave told them that he’d been reconsidering priesthood.
Seminary experience
Next
came the work camp and the decision to pursue the priesthood.
Dave began in pre-theology at Mundelein Seminary in the Chicago
area in 2005, studying philosophy and participating in daily
Mass and priestly formation. He is now in his second year
at the major seminary.
The seminary experience has affi rmed his
vocation and deepened his faith, he said. “It’s certainly
done a lot for my prayer life. (Before) I’d say prayers before
meals and before bedtime. I would meditate and have my conversations
with God occasionally. “But now it’s more formalized. I try
to have an hour each day of individual prayer time, as well
as praying the Liturgy of the Hours, which is the prayer that
priests and deacons say fi ve times a day.” He also attends
daily Mass and has developed “a love and appreciation for
the liturgy.”
In February, Dave began his internship at
St. Jean Baptiste and St. Mary churches in Muskegon, where
he is being mentored by Father Tom Page, who serves as pastor
for both churches. The internship gives the diocese “a chance
to get a look at what the guy is like in a ministry setting,”
Father Hutchinson added. “It gives the guy a chance to get
a handle on the lay of the land and the priesthood,” Father
Hutchinson said. “Studying theology and living a parish priesthood
are two different things in some respects. One is the challenge
of being a student. The other is the challenge of living the
life of ministry.” Dave has made a positive impression at
both St. Jean Baptiste and St. Mary, said Father Page. “He
has a lot of energy and he’s very interested in getting involved
in a wide variety of groups from senior citizens to young
people to the school,” Father Page said. For his part, Dave
has enjoyed ministry after three years of study. “It’s been
a chance to work with people on a daily basis and to be in
different ministry situations,” he said.
“Seeing what Father Tom does and how he interacts
with people has been a great experience.” As part of his internship,
Dave has worked with the youth group and teaches sacraments
to third-graders at Muskegon Catholic Central Elementary School.
He’s also enjoyed “just sharing stories with everybody about
their lives and just getting to know people on a one-to-one
basis.” Next year, Dave will enter his third year of seminary,
highlighted by a 10-week pilgrimage to the Holy Land for Scripture
and ecumenical studies. In June 2009 he will be ordained a
transitional deacon; a year later he is to be ordained a priest.
Priesthood: a chance to "bring
people closer to God'
One reason Dave chose to pursue diocesan priesthood
instead of a religious order is the shortage of priests in
Grand Rapids. He knows that being a priest today comes with
many demands – but that prospect energizes him. “I like variety
– the variety of tasks that are part of the job description.”
Above all, he sees the priesthood as a chance to share the
joy that faith can bring. What he most looks forward to, he
said, is “touching people’s lives on a personal basis and
helping to bring people closer to God.”
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