Deacon Jeremy Gries takes winding journey to life in the priesthood
Deacon Jeremy Gries holds an urn containing chrism to be blessed by Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein during the April 7 archdiocesan chrism Mass celebrated at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis. Archbishop Buechlein will anoint the hands of Deacon Gries and deacons John Hollowell and Peter Marshall when he ordains them to the priesthood on June 6 at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral. (File photo by Sean Gallagher)
By John Shaughnessy
He has hiked the Appalachian Trail, walking more than 2,100 miles from Georgia to Maine.
His adventures have also taken him to Italy, Germany, Israel, and his favorite country that he has visited, Egypt.
And he will soon travel to India to see two of his friends from that country be ordained priests—friends he met at Saint Meinrad School of Theology.
Still, as Deacon Jeremy Gries prepares to be ordained a priest on June 6, he realizes that the greatest journey in his life has occurred within himself.
Now 31, Deacon Gries worked for two and a half years as an engineer after spending seven years earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering—a scientific focus that matched his tendency to view the world and humanity in terms of black and white.
But his time in the seminary and his ministry as a student chaplain at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis have taught him to see the shades of gray in the human experience, especially when he talked to a woman who had been stabbed by her boyfriend and when he had to comfort someone who had just watched a friend die.
“It helped open my eyes to reality,” recalls Deacon Gries, who grew up in Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish in Indianapolis. “I knew people had troubles before, but this made it real and put a face to it. It taught me that life is very messy. I grew up in the suburbs. I never wanted for food, shelter or love. I had good role models in my life. It made me understand what a blessing my life is.”
That understanding particularly struck him as he tried to comfort a woman whose friend had died in an automobile accident.
“The young man who was killed was about my age,” Deacon Gries says. “There was a friend who had been traveling in the car behind him. She watched the accident and came to the hospital afterward. I had to tell her he passed away, and I tried to give her comfort. I also thought, ‘This guy is my age. It could have easily happened to me.’ It helped me to encounter my own death. I think I need to be aware of that if I’m going to be present to people at funerals, wakes and visiting the sick.”
While those experiences have made him more sensitive to people, his love of the outdoors has always brought him closer to God. Ask his parents to share a defining moment from his life, and both Bob and Kathy Gries immediately mention 2001 when he spent six months hiking the Appalachian Trail that winds through 14 states.
“That shows his independence and his self-reliance,” his mother says. “He’s comfortable being on his own. On that trip, he was trying not to carry a lot of weight, but he still took a small Bible with him. That says a lot about him. He’s always related well to God in the outdoors. He sees the wonder of his creation.”
His father adds, “I really think the Appalachian Trail is what really led him to the priesthood. I think that time with nature put him in closer contact with God.”
Eight years later, Deacon Gries is still drawn to the outdoors, listing hiking and canoeing as two of his favorite interests.
“One of the places I do find God is in nature, in the beauty of it,” says Deacon Gries, the fourth of five children in his family. “I also like the solitude of it. I like to pray in that setting. It’s settling for me.”
He has also used his love for nature to help people. As a seminarian, he coordinated the efforts of 300 volunteers in a program that split firewood at St. Meinrad and then distributed it to needy families in southern Indiana.
“He likes people and they like him,” says Father Wilfred “Sonny” Day, the pastor of Holy Family Parish in New Albany, where Deacon Gries has ministered the past two years. “He relates well to our grade school kids and the adults. He is very generous with his time and energy. He will be an excellent parish priest.”
Starting on July 1, Deacon Gries will be the associate pastor of St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis.
“Everything I’ve heard about St. Monica’s is great,” says Deacon Gries, a 1995 graduate of Roncalli High School in Indianapolis. “The diversity of the parish is great, and it has a huge number of ministries. I’ll have a lot of opportunity to work with people.
“One of my main goals as a priest will be to help people develop their relationship with Christ. Flowing out of that would be the celebration of the liturgy and the Eucharist. I also want to teach and educate. I’m looking forward to getting involved at the school.”
He will be getting involved in a parish school just as his mother is ending her career as a teacher in a Catholic school. For the past 24 years, Kathy Gries has been either a kindergarten or first-grade teacher at Nativity School. She retires knowing that her son, Jeremy, has embraced the most important lesson she has tried to teach her children and her students.
“For all of our kids, we hoped they would take the gift of faith seriously,” she says. “We’re very proud and very pleased that he made the decision to become a priest. We hope he’ll make a good shepherd for people. We’re sure he will.”
After his ordination at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis, Deacon Gries will return to the place where his journey of faith began. He will celebrate his Mass of Thanksgiving at Nativity Church at 11 a.m. on June 7.
“I’m approaching ordination with a great sense of peace and accomplishment,” he says. “I’ve been preparing for it for five years. But I don’t see it as an end. I see it as a beginning.
“The best part of the weekend for me will be having the Mass of Thanksgiving in my home parish, in the place where I was brought up. That will be very moving for me.” †
About Deacon Jeremy Gries
- Age: 31
- Parents: Robert and Kathleen Gries
- Parish where he grew up: Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ Parish in Indianapolis
- Hobbies: Hiking, canoeing, woodworking, watching movies
- Favorite Bible verse: “I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10b).
- Favorite prayer: “One of my favorite devotions is praying the rosary. As I have gotten closer and closer to my priestly ordination, I have found myself praying the ‘priestly mysteries’ that the archbishop composed: Jesus Christ the Teacher, Jesus Christ the Healer, Jesus Christ the Prayer, Jesus Christ the Obedient One and Jesus Christ the Chaste Lover of All. I also really enjoy the Stations of the Cross during Lent.” †
