By Sue Denny • Posted May 15, 2026

In October 2018, college senior Alexander Cross had to decide what to do after graduation.

He was weighing three options: enter the seminary; join a year-long mission serving the homeless; or accept a job offer from the pharmaceutical company where he had interned.

After two years of discernment, Cross was leaning toward the seminary. His spiritual director’s advice–“There is grace in the moment”–was decisive.

Cross called Father Stephen P. DeLacy, then director of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s Vocation Office, and announced: “I’m ready for the application.”

Ten months later, Cross entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He is one of eight transitional deacons who will be ordained to the priesthood by Archbishop Nelson Perez on Saturday, May 16 at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul in Philadelphia.

Cross, 29, grew up in Souderton, Montgomery County, the middle child of Daniel and Stephanie Cross. His home parish is St. Agnes in Sellersville, where he attended PREP (Parish Religious Education Program) and was an altar server.

His pastor, Msgr. John Wendrychowicz, set a positive example for him and other altar servers. He was a “good, kind, holy spirit,” Cross said. He still recalls when the priest personally invited him to serve at midnight Mass one Christmas Eve.

Cross also knew Msgr. Wendrychowicz through their involvement in the Catholic Scouting Religious Program, a youth ministry integrating scouting activities with faith formation. Following his passing in December 2012 at age 65, the priest was remembered as a dedicated, gentle man whose longtime support of Catholic Scouting left a lasting impact on thousands of young people, including Cross.

Msgr. Wendrychowicz was similarly committed to cultivating vocations at St. Agnes Parish. His prayers—and repeated invitations from a college friend—influenced Cross’ decision to become a priest.

“The ‘power of invitation’ is really why I was able to hear that call from God,” he said.

Cross was a University of Pittsburgh freshman when he met Anthony Immormino, who lived in his dorm. Cross credits him with reengaging him with his faith.

His new friend regularly invited him to activities at the campus Newman Club, part of the Pittsburgh Oratory and Catholic Newman Center. A weekend camping retreat was particularly memorable. The theme was the “Universal Call to Holiness,” the Catholic teaching that everyone who is baptized is called to be a saint.

“This theme made me think about what God was calling me to do with my life,” Cross said.

Following the retreat, he went to confession for the first time since his seventh grade confirmation. He was terrified before entering the confessional but his fears vanished with the priest’s gentleness and mercy.

“He truly made me realize the love that God had for me in the moment,” Cross said.

As a college sophomore, Immormino invited Cross to a “Come and See” weekend with the Dominican Fathers, an immersive experience to help young men explore a call to the priesthood.

Cross had always assumed he would get married and have a family, but the retreat opened his eyes to a different vocation.

“That weekend made me realize that I needed to pray more,” Cross said, “that God might want me to consider doing something else.”

He started meeting with Father Stephen Lowery, C.O., a priest with the Oratory of St. Philip Neri, for spiritual direction. Cross eventually moved into a Catholic men’s house associated with the Newman Center.

“The idea of the priesthood kept coming back to me,” he said.

He scoured religious order websites, but none spoke to him. Wanting to be closer to home in Montgomery County, he spoke with the archdiocesan vocation director and attended two “Come and See” weekends at St. Charles Seminary.

Cross was at peace during his senior year of college, completing his engineering degree and preparing to enter the seminary. “I knew that’s what God was calling me to,” he said.

Ironically, his friend Anthony did not choose the priesthood. He’s married now, and he and his wife are expecting their third child. Cross is godfather to their son, Dominic.

Immormino and his family will attend the May 16 ordination. Cross trusts that his former pastor, Msgr. Wendrychowicz, will be there in spirit.

“He was very intentional that there should be priests from St. Agnes,” Cross said. “He openly said, as he was suffering from colon cancer, that he was offering to suffer for vocations from the parish.”

Those prayers for a new priest from the parish have been answered, and now Cross is ready to serve the Archdiocese “wherever the archbishop wants to send me,” he said.