Anthony Cardinal Bevilacqua, Archbishop of Philadelphia, announced that Pope John Paul II has appointed Reverend Albin J. Grous to serve as an official of the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education. Reverend Grous will work in the Universities Office. He is currently serving as Parochial Vicar at Saint Monica Parish in South Philadelphia.

Cardinal Bevilacqua said, "Once again, a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia has been called to serve the wider, universal Church. The Archdiocese is deeply honored by the appointment of Reverend Albin J. Grous to the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, where he will serve in the Universities Office. Father Grous brings to this appointment not only intellectual gifts and administrative skills, but also his priestly zeal and profound loyalty to the Church. We wish Father Grous every blessing as he prepares to take up his new post."

Albin J. Grous was born in 1961 in the Bridesburg section of Philadelphia and grew up in Saint John Cantius Parish. He attended Saint Mary's Preparatory School in Orchard Lake, Michigan and then attended Saint Mary's College in Orchard Lake, Michigan, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theology and Philosophy in 1983. He then studied at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. The Most Reverend John J. Graham ordained Father Grous to the priesthood on May 16, 1987 at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Philadelphia. Father Grous also received a Masters of Divinity at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in 1989.

After Ordination, Father Grous served as Assistant Pastor at Saint Adalbert Parish in Philadelphia for three years, until 1990. At that time, he was invited to teach at Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Orchard Lake, Michigan. While a member of the faculty, Father Grous was sent to continue his graduate studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he earned a License in Sacred Theology in1992. Father continued his academic studies in Rome until 1994 at which time he returned to Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary in Michigan, where he was appointed Academic Dean. In 1998, Father Grous was awarded his Doctorate in Sacred Theology. He also served as Vice Rector of Saints Cyril and Methodius Seminary from 1997 to 2000.

In June 2000, after 10 years in Michigan and Rome, Father Grous returned to parish work in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, serving as Parochial Vicar at Saint Monica Parish in South Philadelphia.

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