Perhaps it was an upbringing exposed to life and death on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Or maybe it’s the experience of being an exorcist in the Archdiocese of Chicago for nearly two decades.
Whatever the case, when Archbishop-designate Jeffrey Grob found out this past fall that Pope Francis wanted him to be the next shepherd of the Archdiocese of Milwaukee, he took the news in stride.
As he recalled for the Register, he had just finished a meeting and was in the hallway of the Chicago Archdiocese’s pastoral center when he received a call from one Cardinal Christophe Pierre, the papal nuncio to the United States.
“Sometimes you just feel something in your spirit,” the outgoing auxiliary bishop of Chicago said. “You think, ‘Okay, this is going to be that something.’”
In fact, the archbishop-to-be, who will be installed Tuesday, Jan. 14, in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist in Milwaukee, said that the call gave him flashbacks to a similar conversation four years earlier, when the papal nuncio had told then-Father Grob that Pope Francis was asking him to be ordained a bishop.
Most men facing that proposition ask for a day to consider. Archbishop-designate Grob had said “Yes” right away.
“I didn’t even think to ask for [more time], because it’s like, ‘Okay, this is the next step,’” he told the Register. “To trust, to say, ‘Well, Lord, this is the next thing you’ve placed in front of me to do.’”
It’s a no-frills attitude of openness to God’s will that has defined the life and ministry of the 63-year-old, who says his vocation to ordained ministry didn’t come through a life-changing experience or an influential mentor, but instead in the form of a “quiet, nudging presence.”
And it’s an outlook that informs Archbishop-designate Grob’s desire to “keep it real” as he assumes leadership of the Church in Milwaukee, an archdiocese of close to 600,000 Catholics.
“It’s a sense of being grounded and realistic. Now more than ever, what are our core truths as Catholics, as believers in Jesus Christ? We need to speak his truth to a world that needs to hear who he is and not apologize for that.”
Returning to Roots
Although he’s spent all 32 years of his ordained life as a priest of Chicago, Archbishop-designate Grob’s elevation to Milwaukee is something of a homecoming. The prelate grew up in the neighboring Diocese of Madison and fondly recalls time spent at festivals and Brewers baseball games in “Cream City.”
“There’s a comfort about it,” said Archbishop-designate Grob, who has proudly maintained his Green Bay Packers allegiance despite being in the heart of Chicago Bears country for more than three decades.
Growing up milking cows and delivering calves on a dairy farm in Cross Plains, Wisconsin, the archbishop-to-be told the Register he was formed to have “a sense of hopefulness and that God is at work in creation.”
“You don’t have control over it,” he said of farm life. “But it’s born of trust that God will and does provide.”
Pitching in with farm work every day, Archbishop-designate Grob also learned the value of hard work — a trait that former colleagues say has defined the canon lawyer’s ministry, including time as the judicial vicar and chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
But those who know him say that Archbishop-designate Grob also knows how to kick back and embrace the moments of leisure the Lord provides, too.
“He takes his ministry and his work seriously, but he also knows how to relax and just be with people,” said Bishop Michael McGovern of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, who overlapped with Milwaukee’s new archbishop at Mundelein Seminary and then again as young priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago’s chancery.
Bishop McGovern recalls that Archbishop-designate Grob was well-respected as a leader in seminary, known for leading seminary-wide prayer services. At the same time, he was always up for anything, be it going out for pizza or taking a walk around the lake in a snowstorm.
The now-bishop of Belleville also noted Archbishop-designate Grob’s experience serving and connecting with a wide variety of people as the episcopal vicar in Lake County and northern Cook County, a part of the Archdiocese of Chicago that includes both wealthy and working-class parishes.
“He wouldn’t let affluence or someone’s education influence the conversation; he’d just treat people as people, and that’s one of his gifts.”
Openness to Life
Archbishop-elect Grob’s openness to life has also shown forth in a role he doesn’t put on his business card: He’s been an active exorcist in Chicago since 2006.
It wasn’t a position he sought out. Rather, after he wrote his canon-law doctoral dissertation at Saint Paul University in Ottawa on the revision of the Rite of Exorcism, Cardinal Francis George tapped him for the ministry.
For Archbishop-designate Grob, being an exorcist means being real about the reality of evil, which can enter in when a solid grasp of the Catholic faith is “watered down.” But even more importantly, exorcism means embracing the power and mercy of God.
“I try to downplay [that I’m an exorcist] because it’s not about the Hollywood version of what happens. It’s about the restoration of the child of God through healing back to the Body of Christ.”
Pro-life ministry has also been a priority for Archbishop-designate Grob. Aid for Women Executive Director Susan Barrett said that as an auxiliary bishop he established chapels at two of their pregnancy-care centers, celebrated Mass, attended their fundraising events, and provided moral support and spiritual guidance.

His Packers allegiance notwithstanding, those in Chicago are sad to lose Archbishop-elect Grob. But they’re also excited about what he will offer to the archdiocese just across the Wisconsin state line.
“Archbishop-elect Grob will bring to the people of Milwaukee a great love for the Church and the intellect of a canon lawyer combined with the kindness of a pastor,” said Mary FioRito, a fellow with the Ethics and Public Policy Center who had a neighboring office with then-Father Grob in the chancery for several years.
Milwaukee’s Man
As Archbishop-designate Grob makes the transition to Milwaukee, he’ll rely on a prayer life that he describes as not very “exotic.” Instead, it’s focused on steady contact with the Lord through Eucharistic adoration, Scripture reading and the Liturgy of the Hours.
“There’s no life without him. Jesus is the vine; we are the branches,” he said, echoing his episcopal motto.
Archbishop-designate Grob will also be looking to an old teacher for guidance — Milwaukee’s outgoing Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who taught him at Mundelein.
“He built a very solid foundation [in Milwaukee], which I fortunately am the inheritor of,” said Archbishop-designate Grob, mentioning the archdiocese’s recovery from bankruptcy, its strong seminary, and robust evangelization efforts. “I’m looking at it all saying, ‘Okay, what’s the next step?’”
As Archbishop-elect Grob discerns that question, he’ll be listening to what the faithful in his new archdiocese have to say.
“I’m a farm boy. That’s what I keep going back to, in the sense of just rolling up my sleeves. There’s work to do, and there’s work enough for everybody.”
It’s the same mentality he grew up with in Cross Plains. Except now, he’s offering more than fresh milk.
“We deserve a seat at the table as the Catholic Church. We have something to share,” he said. “We’ve got Jesus Christ.”