Deacon Robert Cross: Former Presbyterian Minister

One of three siblings, Deacon Robert Cross states that there was very little in faith practice in their homes in Wisconsin, Illinois or Michigan.  It was only in their returning to Wisconsin that the family became active in a Baptist Church and that Deacon Cross began to walk in the way of the Lord.  Following high school, he entered the army during World War II.  It was near the conclusion of his military duty that he heard the call to ministry.  On to college where he met and married his wife Nancy, then off to Andover-Newton seminary.  He was ordained as a Baptist minister, serving several years in New Hampshire, then came an invitation to become a Presbyterian teaching elder in Flint, MI – a position which he served in for 10 years.  It was during that tenure, while attending a charismatic conference, that seeds were planted for conversion to Catholicism.  In 1971, Deacon Cross and his family converted, and two years later, he entered into the diaconate formation program in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.