Looking back over his 50 years as a priest for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, Msgr. Donald Essex said his greatest joy has been in serving the faithful of the archdiocese.

“My (priestly) life was heavily administrative, but I was very happy to go back to pastoral ministry,” said the priest who formerly served as the chief financial officer for the archdiocese. “I spent eight years at the Pastoral Center (the archdiocese’s administrative offices in Hyattsville, Maryland), but the most important years were the years when I was in the parishes.”

About six years ago, Msgr. Essex – who is 76 – retired as pastor of Our Lady of Grace Parish in the Leisure World retirement community in Silver Spring, Maryland. He still resides in community.

“People say retirement, but it is more like semi-retirement, because I still help out at Our Lady of Grace and at St. Peter’s in Olney (Maryland),” Msgr. Essex said. “When a priest retires, he retires from administration, but not from ministry.”

A native Washingtonian, the future priest was the oldest of three children – two boys and one girl – born to Arthur and Helen Essex. The family were members of St. Gabriel’s Parish in Washington, and young Donald attended the parish school.

In an earlier interview with the Catholic Standard, Msgr. Essex said that after his parents, “probably the greatest influence on my life were the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary” who taught him at St. Gabriel’s School.

He graduated from Cathedral Latin High School in 1965, and after attending St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore, he was ordained a priest for The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington in 1973. Msgr. Essex has the distinction of serving under every resident archbishop of Washington.

“I was ordained a deacon under Cardinal (Patrick) O’Boyle, and I was ordained a priest three days after Cardinal (William) Baum was installed” as the third archbishop of Washington, Msgr. Essex said.

Cardinal O’Boyle – the second archbishop of Washington and the first to reside here – served in that post from 1948 to 1973. He was succeeded by Cardinal Baum, who served here until 1980.

As a newly ordained priest, Msgr. Essex served as parochial vicar at St. Andrew Apostle Parish in Silver Spring, Maryland where he helped with retreats for youth and was involved in the Cursillo and Marriage Encounter movements, and then he was assigned to the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Washington, D.C.

In 1981, Cardinal James Hickey, the archbishop here from 1980 to 2000, appointed Msgr. Essex as the archdiocese’s assistant director of finance. In 1982, after he earned a master’s degree in administration from the University of Notre Dame, he was named associate secretary for support services and later director of finance for the archdiocese.

In 1987, Msgr. Essex returned to parish ministry, serving as the pastor of St. Patrick’s Parish in Washington, D.C. He was named a monsignor in 1991 and served at St. Patrick’s until 1995, when he was named pastor of St. Jane de Chantal Parish in Bethesda, Maryland from 1995-2012.

He was then assigned to serve as pastor at Our Lady of Grace Parish in Leisure World, a post he held until his retirement.

“I was very blessed to be back in the parishes,” he said. “The goodness of the people I served has been such a great joy to me.”

In addition to his priestly duties, over the years Msgr. Essex has served on the archdiocesan finance council, the College of Consultors, the Priest Retirement Board and the Council of Priests. He previously served on the Board of Directors for Catholic Cemeteries and for Carroll Publishing, now known as Carroll Media which publishes the Catholic Standard and its Spanish-language sister publication, El Pregonero.

During his five decades as a priest, Msgr. Essex said he is aware that “the Lord has been with me every step of the way.”

Being called to be a priest, he added, “is a gift from God. I do not know any other way to describe it.”

“It is God who calls us to a vocation, and we respond as best we can – not always perfectly, but the best we can – and God seems to do the rest,” Msgr. Essex said. “I’m happy to be a priest. I thank God for the opportunity to be a priest, and I thank the people in the parishes who have let me serve them.”