Rev. Robert Griesse, 80; Lutheran embraced other faiths
The Rev. Robert L. Griesse was a Lutheran minister who reached out to other faiths.
"He really was a pioneer in the ecumenical conversation. At a time when many in the ministry were not particularly open to people of other religions, he easily made friendships with those of other faiths," said the Rev. John Stendhal, who succeeded the Rev. Griesse as pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Newtons in Newton Centre.
The Rev. Griesse, who held joint services with Trinity Episcopal Church in Newton and was the host of the ecumenical radio show on WBZ, died of complications of cancer Sept. 8 in Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis. He was 80.
The Rev. Richard Koenig of Cromwell, Conn., a fellow Lutheran minister and friend of Rev Griesse for 65 years, said: "He was a man who reached out to others and made everybody feel comfortable. He was put on this earth to keep people together."
Born in Alma, Mo., he was the son of the Rev. August and Lydia Griesse. He was one of 10 children, and five of his six brothers also became ministers.
"His older brother Richard would have become a minister, too, but he graduated from the seminary during the Great Depression and only two of 100 graduates got callings to congregations," said Rev. Griesse's wife, Rosalie (Keller).
Richard became a farmer in Nebraska. His brothers, including Robert, worked on the farm in the summer. In return, he paid their tuition to the seminary.
Rev. Griesse graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in St. Louis. While in the seminary, he sang in the St. Louis Bach Chorus, where he met his future wife, who was also a member.
After his ordination in 1952, Rev. Griesse was assistant pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Kansas City, Mo. He then accepted an assignment from the Atlantic District of the Lutheran Church to start a church in East Brunswick, N.J.
After canvassing 3,000 homes, Christ Memorial Lutheran Church opened on the Sunday before Thanksgiving in 1956 with 222 people in attendance. When he left in 1966 to become pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Newtons, the congregation numbered 800.
"It was his proudest achievement," said his wife.
Rev. Griesse was pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Newtons for nearly 29 years until his retirement in 1994.
For several years, he held joint services with Trinity Episcopal Church in Newton. He and the minister at Trinity also switched pulpits for a month each summer.
In a story published in The Boston Globe in 1991, Rev. Griesse said the intent of the relationship was not the creation of one organization, but of "the mutual recognition of each other as valid while remaining distinct. It is a vision that recognizes the diversity of ways in which the spirit of God moves people. It recognizes that it is not our denominations that make us Christian but the Gospel."
For more than two decades, Rev. Griesse co-hosted the WBZ Radio show "Intersect" with a priest and a rabbi, often Father Robert Bullock and Rabbi Sam Kenner. The Sunday morning program examined current issues from different religious perspectives.
"He got fan mail from as far away as Canada and Ohio," his wife said.
In 1982, he took a sabbatical to study Namibia's fight for independence from South Africa, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the chasm between East and West Germany.
"He was concerned that the Lutheran Church never spoke out against the Nazis and he wanted to see how the church was dealing with other oppressive regimes," Rosalie Griesse said.
His study earned him a master's degree in sacred theology from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.
After the sabbatical, he returned to his parish in Newton.
"He was a very humble, sweet, and caring man," said Stendahl. "Parish ministry can sometimes be a bruising undertaking, but he took those blows and learned to live with the criticisms and disappointments as well as the blessings that came his way."
After retiring in 1994, Rev. Griesse served as interim pastor at parishes in Marblehead, Natick, and Warwick, R.I. In 2004, he moved to Golden Valley, Minn., to be near his daughters.
"He was not a man who sought attention," said Koenig. " He didn't light up a room, he sidled into it. But when he arrived, he made everybody feel better. "
In addition to his wife, Rev. Griesse leaves three daughters, Anne Feldman of Los Angeles, Liz Woodworth of Minneapolis, and Sarah of Woodbury, Minn.; a brother, Elmer of Olympia, Wash; two sisters, Doris Snyder of Kansas City, Mo., and Lois Hoyer of Bloomer, Wis.; and five grandchildren.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Lutheran Church of the Newtons. 