PRIEST PROFILE

By the time he was 17, Gregory Dean was in a rock band playing the nightclubs of Indianapolis.

The band enjoyed such success that, at the end of his junior year, he considered dropping out of high school and joining his band mates on tour. Instead, he decided to stay behind and get his diploma. After a conversion experience during his freshman year in college, Dean gave his life to Christ and consecrated himself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. He was ordained to the holy priesthood for the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate in the Jubilee Year 2000.

Father Maximilian Mary, as he is now known, is father guardian of Mount St. Francis Hermitage in Maine, N.Y. Today, he uses his vocal and classical-guitar skills to spread devotion to the Blessed Mother. He has released five CDs, and a DVD of his concert is set to come out by the end of this month. He spoke with Register correspondent Veronica Wendt.

While studying classical guitar at DePaul University, you had a conversion experience. Could you tell us more about it?

My conversion actually started shortly before I left for college. Even with all the success I was experiencing in the rock band, I still was empty; I was still searching. I could see that success in the music industry wasn't going to fulfill me. So I went to DePaul searching for meaning, searching for God. I was reading everything and anything I could get a hold of, even New Age.

I also read the Gospels. I was deeply touched by the teachings and the life of Jesus, but I wasn't sure that I believed he was the eternal Son of God until I read the crucifixion. I knew then that he was innocent and that he died for my sins. Then I came to the scene of the centurion where he says, “Truly this was the Son of God.” All I can say is that, at this moment, I was given the gift of faith in Jesus Christ.

There are many churches that believe in Jesus. What brought you back to the Catholic faith in particular?

The Rosary. When I came home for Christmas break, my mom invited me to a morning Mass at a Franciscan retreat center. There I met people who were deeply prayerful because of their devotion to the Rosary. So that night, I prayed my first Rosary and Our Lady intervened. It was a set of rosary beads my mom had given me before I went away to college; they had been blessed by Pope John Paul II. It was through this rosary blessed by the Pope that I was enlightened to the truth of the Catholic faith.

After this, you transferred to Franciscan University of Steubenville and went on to join the Franciscans of the Immaculate. Did you expect to have a music apostolate with the order?

Having a music apostolate with the guitar wasn't even a thought when I joined the FIs, especially since they use organ and Gregorian chant for the liturgy. I knew I would not be using the guitar as I had in the past. It was God's will and so it was a joy.

How did your music apostolate begin?

I was making a solitude retreat in 1998 and the thought kept coming to me that I should record for Our Lady. I thought it was a distraction, or pride. I went to see my superior about it, and he encouraged me to record. I was just going to record a cassette for a catechism class I was teaching. I didn't realize at the time that the FIs had studio-quality equipment. They had studio microphones, digital multi-track recording equipment and so on. So instead of putting out a cassette, we produced professional-quality CDs.

Tell us about your concerts.

I started doing the concerts initially as a way to raise money for our missionaries in Russia. All of the concerts that I do are free, but we take up free-will offerings. My goal for the concert is to bring souls closer to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary. I do that through songs and reflections.

How does your music apostolate fit into the charism of the Friars of the Immaculate?

It's Franciscan in its simplicity: I just show up with a guitar and a breviary. And it's Marian: Free Miraculous Medals are given, and all are invited to know and love their Immaculate Mother more deeply. So it fits in rather nicely.

How do you balance prayer with your apostolate?

Although we give prayer pride of place, we also exercise a zealous Marian apostolate. St. Maximilian Kolbe once said, “External activity is good; but it is clearly something of secondary rank … especially when compared with the interior life.” It takes effort, but my music apostolate must always flow from prayer, from the many Rosaries prayed and hours of Eucharistic adoration made.

Have you seen your music bring people closer to Our Lady?

After a concert I did at a parish in Buffalo, N.Y., a woman with tears in her eyes came up to me and said that she almost hadn't come that night. It was the 50th anniversary of her mother's death. She had lost her mom as a small child, and had never come to terms with it. She really didn't think she could handle coming to the concert. After coming to the concert, however, she said she was finally able to accept her mother's death and had accepted Our Lady that very night as her heavenly Mother.

Veronica Wendt writes from Steubenville, Ohio.

Information

Franciscans of the Immaculate

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