“I had thought about the priesthood growing up, but I had serious discernment later. There was no ‘road to Damascus’ moment,” admitted Rev. Mr. Robert J. Cro about his journey to religious life. “One of my father’s favorite sayings was ‘God draws straight with crooked lines’.” Rev. Mr. Cro’s crooked, multi-country and years’-long path as a teacher finally led him straight back to the United States to answer the call to priesthood.

Rev. Mr. Cro is the son of Adeline and the late William Cro and brother of William and Matthew Cro and Nancy Hottle. He was born Jan. 3, 1969, in New York, N.Y., and attended St. Patrick elementary and Msgr. Farrell high schools both on Staten Island, N.Y.  Rev. Mr. Cro went on to graduate from Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., with a dual major in classics and physics, earn a master’s degree in classical archeology from Princeton University and pursue studies in ancient civilizations as a Fellow of the American Academy in Rome.

“It was one of the steps that led me to where I am today,” Rev. Mr. Cro declared, describing his spiritual re-awakening as he explored the monuments and churches in Rome. He began to speak of pursuing the religious life with (the now deceased) Father Evasio P. De Marcellis, who was then pastor of St. Paul Parish, Princeton, as well as Father K. Michael Lambeth, then Trenton Diocesan director of vocations, but career opportunities in England and Italy took precedence.

After the death of his father, Rev. Mr. Cro left the United States once again for a position teaching English to Japanese middle school students. “It strengthened my faith,” Rev. Mr. Cro remembered. “I was very blessed: in a country where there is less than one percent who are Christians, I was stationed in a small rural area just north of Kyoto and there was a small Catholic church in town. I got to see what life was like as an immigrant.”

Rev. Mr. Cro finally answered God’s persistent call to the priesthood and entered St. Mary Seminary and University, Baltimore at the age of 38; there he earned a master of divinity degree and a bachelor’s in sacred theology. His summer assignments included Sacred Heart Parish, Trenton (2008); St. Catharine-St. Margaret Parish, Spring Lake (2009); St. Denis Parish, Manasquan (2010), and St. Justin the Martyr Parish, Toms River (2011). “I had a wide variety of experiences,” Rev. Mr. Cro admitted, “but the one thing I noticed was the universal hunger for God. The people were enormously responsive, welcoming and inviting.”

Upon his ordination June 9 in St Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, the Rev. Mr. Cro, 43, will be assigned as parochial vicar at St. Thomas More Parish, Manalapan. He most eagerly anticipates offering the Mass, “the source and summit of worship” and aiding in both the children’s and adult religious education programs. “There’s so much to do; we keep growing in our faith,” Rev. Mr. Cro stated. “We have to plant the seeds and nurture them. Our education is ongoing.”

Rev. Mr. Cro realizes his greatest challenge is to proclaim the Word of God to his parishioners. “In years past, we had the luxury that the general culture was supportive,” the future priest noted. “Now there is suspicion in the culture. It is harder to make the case for the teachings of Christ because there are other messages and confusion from other sources.”

But Rev. Mr. Cro is prepared to bring his varied life experiences to his new vocation. “I love the old Latin Word for God,” the world traveler said. “It’s ‘pontifex’, which means bridge-builder.” Cro’s advice to future fellow bridge-builders is to “live a life of prayer, talk to a priest you know and who knows you, for they’ve been through it.  Don’t be afraid, and keep a prayerful and open heart.”

Rev. Mr. Cro has chosen Dominican Father Bernard Mulcahy to vest him at the June 9 ordination. “I’ve been friends with him since the first day of first grade,” he laughed, relating he and the friar had been classmates all through their grammar and high school years. (Rev. Mr. Cro will be the third man from his high school class of 300 to join the priesthood.) “I suspect that as [Father Mulcahy] is giving me my chasuble, he will bend over and jokingly say, ‘It TOOK you long enough!’”