Father Lee W. Gross, 76, has spent more years in seminary than
most. First he studied at a Lutheran seminary, then at an Episcopal one, and
finally he worked at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md. Teaching
seminarians has been a great joy, but this year he retired to the St. Rose of
Lima Priests’ Retirement Villa in Annandale.
“Little did I ever know that I would be (at Mount St. Mary) 26
years, just beyond my wildest imagination,” said Father Gross. “I loved the
work there, I was very happy there. The time to retire has come but I will miss
it very much.”
Father Gross was born in 1944 in Rapid City, S.D. His father’s
service in the U.S. Air Force brought them to South Dakota, but he spent most
of his childhood in Pennsylvania. Attending a youth group Bible study as a teen
awakened his interest in ministry. After graduating from Hempfield High School
in Landisville, Pa., in 1962, he enrolled at Gettysburg College in
Pennsylvania. After earning his bachelor’s in 1966, he enrolled in Lutheran
Theological Seminary in Gettysburg. He graduated with a master’s of divinity in
1970 and was ordained a Lutheran pastor that same year.
From 1970 to 1974, he served as pastor of Ascension Lutheran
Church in Queens, N.Y. But he felt called to something else. “Even as a
Lutheran pastor I was already leaning to a more Catholic expression,” he said.
“I was afraid to make the jump the whole way so the Episcopal Church seemed
like a good compromise.” In 1974, he joined the Episcopal Church and a year
later he entered seminary. The following year, he was ordained an Episcopal
priest.
Father Gross served in Illinois churches from 1976 to 1985 before
entering into full communion with the Catholic Church in 1985. “I’m grateful
for my background in the Lutheran Church. I’m grateful for my time in the
Episcopal Church. I think both deepened my faith and my relationship with God,”
he said. “But in each of them I felt there was something more, something
missing and I certainly found that in the Catholic Church.”
Father Gross became a priest through the pastoral provision, a
process instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1980 to enable Episcopal priests to
become Catholic priests. The representative of the pastoral provision suggested
he ask permission to be a priest in the Arlington diocese and, having already
spent a year in the Washington area during his Lutheran pastoral formation, he
agreed. He spent a year at St. Louis Church in Alexandria and another year at
Sacred Heart of Jesus Church in Winchester. He was ordained to the priesthood
at Sacred Heart by Bishop John R. Keating April 3, 1987, just a week after he
was ordained to the diaconate.
Father Gross served as parochial vicar of Sacred Heart (1987-91)
and St. Agnes Church in Arlington (1991-95). While at St. Agnes, a priest
friend asked Father Gross if he’d be interested in teaching in the seminary. He
was very interested, but felt it was unlikely he would be able to teach
considering he only had degrees from Protestant seminaries and never attended a
Catholic seminary. “God has a divine sense of humor so he got me for 26 years
in a Catholic seminary,” said Father Gross.
For a year he taught liturgy courses as an adjunct professor. In
1995, he took on a full-time administrative position at the seminary as dean of
men, or head of student life. In 2003, Father Gross earned a degree in sacred
theology from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore and became an
assistant professor of liturgy and systematic theology at Mount St. Mary’s in
addition to remaining dean of men.
Each Sunday for 15 years, Father Gross drove to Gaithersburg,
Md., to celebrate the Divine Liturgy, or Mass, for the Byzantine Catholic
Mission of Montgomery County, a mission of Epiphany of Our Lord Byzantine
Catholic Church in Annandale. The community was in need of a priest and Father
Gross always had found beauty in the Eastern-rite liturgy. So he spent months
training with Father John Basarab, Epiphany pastor, and the Vatican granted him
the faculties to celebrate the Byzantine rite.
Once a year, he celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the seminary.
“The people from Epiphany would bring all the liturgical articles and some of
the Byzantine priests would come concelebrate with me. We had a little choir
that would learn the music,” he said. “It was a great experience for the
students. They loved it.”
Looking back, Father Gross is grateful God brought him to the
Catholic faith and that he was able to impact the lives of so many lay
Catholics through the men he taught. “I love teaching and I enjoy the classroom,
but it was more than just academic work. You’re preparing priests,” he said.
“In a way, I feel like I’ve had something to do with quite a number of the
Catholic faithful, that I’m helping to hopefully form good and holy priests.”
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