At the same time, he says he'll also respectfully point out situations where President-elect Joe Biden's policies diverge from Catholic teaching.

"I have always seen myself as someone who is charged with being in dialogue and in conversation, so I hope that my conversation with the new administration reflects that ...," he says.

Gregory says said he wants to work with the incoming U.S. administration to look for "where we can find things that we can do together for the betterment of the American community, for the people of the archdiocese in general.

I want to be one who engages people in conversation."

One of the areas both Americans and the American Church are divided over is abortion.

In this respect, Joe Biden has drawn conservative Catholics' ire.

Conservative Catholics are criticising his support of abortion rights.

But Biden says while he is personally opposed to abortion, he cannot impose his view on others.

This has led some U.S. conservative bishops to say Biden should be denied the sacrament of communion.

Biden's position on abortion rights created a "difficult and complex situation," says U.S. bishops' conference head, José Horacio Gómez.

He has arranged for a working group to study its ramifications.

Gregory, however, says he would not prevent the new president, who goes to Mass every Sunday, from receiving communion in the archdiocese.

"The kind of relationship that I hope we will have is a conversational relationship where we can discover areas where we can cooperate that reflect the social teachings of the church, knowing full well that there are some areas where we won't agree," he says.

"They are areas where the church's position is very clear," particularly its opposition to the president-elect's support for legal abortion.

Gregory said he planned to approach the President on areas of agreement and disagreement in a respectful way.

"He's not going to be on speed dial, and I hope I'm not on his speed dial," Gregory told Al Roker of the Today Show in February.

"But there will be moments when I will be able to speak to him about faith, about the works that he is trying to accomplish that we can be supportive of, but also areas where we're not going to agree. But I'm going to always try to do it in a respectful way."

America's first African-American cardinal is no stranger to political controversy.

He clashed with President Donald Trump earlier this year, criticising the former president's visit to a Washington shrine after protesters were cleared away with tear gas and rubber bullets.

The reason for the clearance? So Trump could be photographed in front of a historic Washington church holding a Bible.

In response, Gregory said he found it "baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated."

In Gregory's view, Catholic institutions - parishes, schools, hospitals, social justice and service activities, should be models reflecting gospel teachings.

Gregory hopes to use his new title to be a bridge builder between the African-American Catholic community and the worldwide Church. He says he will be "inviting all of us to engage in a more fruitful dialogue on racial and social justice issues."

Source

• America Magazine
• Image: Los Angeles Times

He was one of 13 new cardinals announced by Pope Francis at the end of his Angelus address on October 25th.

Nine of the new appointees are under the age of 80. They will be eligible to vote in a papal conclave along with 119 other cardinals. The other four churchmen will wear their red hats as a sign of esteem and honour.

Along with Gregory from the USA, the pope chose as cardinal electors two officials of the Roman Curia and bishops from Italy, Rwanda, the Philippines, Chile and Brunei.

The 72-year-old Gregory, ordained in his native Chicago in 1973, took over leadership of the capital's archdiocese last year after serving as archbishop of Atlanta since 2005.

Gregory has been praised for his handling of the sexual abuse scandal that has shaken the church.

He helped shape the church's "zero tolerance" response to the sexual abuse scandal while serving as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004.

Gregory has also spoken recently about the importance of Catholic leaders working to combat the sin of racial discrimination. The Washington D.C. archdiocese has created an anti-racism initiative under his leadership, offering focused prayer and listening sessions.

Additionally, Gregory has drawn notice for his more inclusive treatment of LGBTQ Catholics. In 2014, he wrote an encouraging column about his conversations with a group of Catholic parents of LGBTQ children.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, which represents LGBTQ Catholics, said his group is "very excited" to see Gregory's elevation and connected it back to Francis' recently reported comments supporting civil unions for same-sex couples.

Recently the outspoken Gregory made headlines for issuing a statement critical of President Donald Trump's visit to the Saint John Paul II National Shrine.

That visit came just one day after the president made his controversial visit to an Episcopal church in Washington. This is where demonstrators were forcefully cleared to facilitate Trump's photo opportunity.

Gregory commented that he considered "it baffling and reprehensible that any Catholic facility would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated."

The consistory confirming the appointments will be held in late November. The details of the event are yet to be announced.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions on travel and gatherings, a non-traditional consistory may be organised.

The full list of the new cardinals, in the order named by the pope:

• Bishop Mario Grech, 63, secretary-general of the Synod of Bishops.
• Bishop Marcello Semeraro, 72, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.
• Archbishop Antoine Kambanda of Kigali, Rwanda, who will turn 62 Nov. 10.
• Archbishop Gregory, 72.
• Archbishop Jose F. Advincula of Capiz, Philippines, 68.
• Archbishop Celestino Aos Braco of Santiago, Chile, 75.
• Bishop Cornelius Sim, apostolic vicar of Brunei, 69.
• Archbishop Paolo Lojudice of Siena, 56.
• Father Mauro Gambetti, custos of the Sacred Convent of Assisi in Assisi, who was to celebrate his 55th birthday Oct. 27.
• Retired Bishop Felipe Arizmendi Esquivel of San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico, 80.
• Retired Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, a former nuncio, 80.
• Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household, 86.
• Father Enrico Feroci, 80, former director of Rome's Caritas.

Sources

• Today
• Catholic News Service

"Long before he became Supreme Pontiff, he was battling systems that were intended to destroy, weaken, or certainly, deny human dignity," Gregory said of Pope John Paul II.

"That shrine is a holy place because of the man that it honors," he said, repeating his denunciation from Wednesday of the President's visit one day after police used tear gas to clear out Black Lives Matter protesters in downtown Washington in order for Trump to visit St. John's Episcopal Church for a photo-op holding up the Bible. Read more

Gregory said arranging for Trump to visit the shrine was "baffling and reprehensible." He is outraged at what he called a politicised photo opportunity.

Protesters from a number of Catholic social advocacy groups greeted Trump as he arrived at the shrine.

Cardinal Blase Cupich defended the protesters, saying "if you're not outraged, you're not paying attention. What did we expect when we learned ... the price of a black life is a counterfeit twenty-dollar bill?"

During the past week the US has devolved into widespread unrest after police killed an unarmed black man, George Floyd.

A police officer involved in the killing has been sacked and arrested and charged with murder and manslaughter.

Gregory says he is outraged any Catholic facility "would allow itself to be so egregiously misused and manipulated in a fashion that violates our religious principles, which call us to defend the rights of all people even those with whom we might disagree.

"Saint Pope John Paul II was an ardent defender of the rights and dignity of human beings," said Gregory, who is Washington's first African American archbishop.

"His legacy bears vivid witness to that truth. He certainly would not condone the use of tear gas and other deterrents to silence, scatter or intimidate them for a photo opportunity in front of a place of worship and peace."

Gregory called out the sin of racism while encouraging nonviolent protests as a means of resistance.

"We, as a society, must find ways to understand and to respond to the pain of our brothers and sisters. We see racism destroying the lives of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian people ... [it] triggers the divisive and xenophobic attitudes of nationalism."

"We must non-violently and constructively work together to heal and build the ‘Beloved Community' ..." he added.

A statement from the Shrine (which is a Knights of Columbus initiative) defended Trump's visit saying he had originally intended to sign an executive order on religious liberty while he was there.

"This was fitting given Saint John Paul II was a tireless advocate for religious liberty throughout his pontificate."

"International religious freedom receives widespread bipartisan support, including unanimous passage of legislation in defense of persecuted Christians and religious minorities around the world."

Trump's visit to the shrine came less than twenty-four hours after police used tear gas to dislodge protesters so Trump could visit St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House.

St. John's rector, Rev. Gini Gerbasi, said on Facebook that she was shaken by the show of force for a photo opportunity.

"The patio of St. John's... had been holy ground today ... But that man turned it into a battleground first and a cheap political stunt second."

After police removed the St John's protesters, Trump posed in front of St John's church holding a Bible.

Source

• Archdiocese of Chicago
• Crux Now
• The Oregonian\
• Image: CNN

"Hi, my name is Rory and I worship with Dignity Washington," Rory told Gregory at one of the recent archdiocesan-hosted Theology on Tap events.

"My question is what place do I have as a confirmed transgender Catholic and what place do my queer friends have here in this archdiocese?" Rory asked.

LGBT Catholics consider Gregory's response to a question was "highly supportive and understanding".

"You belong to the heart of this church," Gregory replied. "There is nothing that you may do, may say, that will ever rip you from the heart of this church."

Gregory then went on to say:

"There is a lot that has been said to you, about you, behind your back that is painful and is sinful.

"We have to find a way to talk to one another and to talk to one another not just from one perspective, but to talk and to listen to one another.

"I think that's the way that Jesus ministered. He engaged people, he took them to where they were at, and he invited them to go deeper, closer to God.

"So if you're asking me where do you fit, you fit in the family."

Gregory, who is the first African-American Archbishop of Washington, is being tipped by some to become the first US African-American cardinal.

LGBT Catholics consider that prospect remarkable given his reputation of support for the LGBT community and LGBT Catholics.

As an example, while he was Archbishop of Atlanta, Gregory established a cordial relationship with Fortunate Families group members, whose are Catholic parents of LGBT people.

He mentioned how grateful he is to the Fortunate Families group during the Theology on Tap meeting.

He said he was grateful to have been able to tell the parents "first of all that they had to love their children and that the church had to love their children,".

"The Dignity Washington community is very pleased and excited to hear the dialogue that occurred between one of our young, transgender Catholics and Archbishop Gregory," Dignity Washington President Daniel Barutta said when he heard of the conversation at the Theology on Tap meeting.

"The fact that he is reaching out to the next generation of Catholic young adults who very well may become future church leaders is very encouraging.

A spokesperson for the Archdiocese says the archdiocese regularly hosts Theology on Tap events in D.C. bars and restaurants as a means of reaching out to and engaging young professionals "around topics of faith and life."

Source

• Washington Blade
• Image: Washington Post

"To be a member of the Church means you've got to get in and get your hands dirty in the mix of the whole arena of faith from what we believe and profess to how we live and treat one another. … You can't not invest yourself into this family."

Gregory shared his distress over the priestly abuse scandals that have beset the Washington archdiocese over the past year and encouraged the young adults to turn to the Eucharist as a source of healing.

"I'm not quite as young as you, but I, too, am let down by the leadership in the Church," Gregory said.

"I've been embarrassed. I've been embarrassed as a Catholic, as a priest and as a bishop because of the behaviour by some of my fellow clerics."

He went on to explain to those present his views on belonging to the church family.

It means "you are invested in the life, the struggles, the pain, the joys that belong to being a member of this family, and that includes our faith, what we hold as true, and also it involves our investment in social justice dimensions of our faith" he said.

You can't be a good Catholic invested in Eucharistic adoration, but unconcerned about the poor, those waiting to be born, those on death row. You've got to buy the whole lot."

During his wide-ranging discussion that moved from his unexpected appointment as Washington's archbishop to Pope Francis's encyclical on the environment, Laudato Si, Gregory made a commitment to restore the trust in his archdiocese.

He would do this mainly by being an "ordinary member of this local Church," he said.

"That is, someone who identifies with the people, demonstrates that he is comfortable with his people, enjoys being with his people, and I will try to the best of my ability to continue doing that, to be available and immersed in the life of this local Church."

Source

• CNS
• Catholic Sun
• Image: The Evangelist

Defending his right to voice his concerns, Gregory says there are times "when a pastor and a disciple of Jesus is called to speak out to defend the dignity of all God's children.

"I fear that recent public comments by our president and others, and the responses they have generated, have deepened divisions and diminished our national life.

"As an American, a Christian, a Catholic pastor, I pray that our President, other national leaders and all Americans will do all we can to respect the dignity of all God's children and nothing to further divide our nation.

"The growing plague of offence and disrespect in speech and actions must end."

Over the past month Trump has made a number of bigoted comments.

As an example, he told four progressive Democratic congresswomen to "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."

The tweet was seen as a reference to three women who were born in the US. The fourth woman, Ilhan Omar, came to the US as a Somali refugee and is a naturalised US citizen.

Trump's tweet was the focal point of a rally in North Carolina several days later. Audience members chanted "Send her back!" in reference to Omar.

Trump the next day said he "was not happy" with the chant and disagreed with it.

Then he took to Twitter and verbally attacked an African-American Congress member, Elijah Cummings, one of Baltimore's Democratic representatives and a frequent critic of the President.

Cummings became a target of Trump's tweets after he spoke plainly about the unacceptable Mexican border conditions during a congressional hearing.

He had also launched a number of investigations into Trump's finances and White House practices, including security clearances and Hatch Act violations.

In response, Trump tweeted that Cummings's district, (which includes much of Baltimore City), is a "disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess".

"Conditions in Baltimore are "far worse and more dangerous" than those at the US-Mexico border, Trump's tweets continued.

Other religious leaders in Maryland's Ecumenical Leaders' Group have sent a joint letter to Trump, calling his tweets a "slur" against the city and "horrible, demeaning and beneath the dignity of a political leader who should be encouraging us all to strive and work for a more civil, just and compassionate society."

The letter also included an invitation for Trump to visit and see the good being done in the city.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• The Tablet
• Fox 5
• Image: Salt Lake Tribune

"I want to be a welcoming shepherd who laughs with you whenever we can, who cries with you whenever we must, and who honestly confesses his faults and failings before you when I commit them, not when they are revealed," Gregory said.

"We stand at a defining moment for this local faith community.

"Our recent sorrow and shame [in relation to clergy sex abuse] do not define us; rather, they serve to chasten and strengthen us to face tomorrow with spirits undeterred."

Acknowledging the scandals that have rocked the world Church, Gregory said, "We have been tossed about by an unusually turbulent moment in our own faith journeys recently and for far too long.

"We clerics and hierarchs have irrefutably been the source of the current tempest."

However, drawing on the image of the apostles' fear on stormy seas, Gregory said true peace is found by remembering Christ was in the apostles' boat.

"He invites us to place our trust in Him - not in trite and easy programmes - but in Him and Him alone."

Despite the pressure of recent scandals, Gregory said he had already received an "affectionate and embarrassingly gracious welcome".

"The example I wish to set forth for you is that of a man filled with the faith, hope and joy of knowing Jesus Christ is in the boat."

Gregory thanked Pope Francis for the "righteous challenge - more an opportunity" to carry the Gospel message to the poor, the marginalised and the neglected.

The Archbishop of Washington is considered one of the most influential Churchmen in the United States.

While Gregory, 71, is widely expected to be named a cardinal in the future, it is usual for the pope to wait until the previous cardinal archbishop from the same diocese turns 80 years old and becomes ineligible to vote in a conclave.

The diocese's former cardinal, Donald Wuerl, will turn 79 in November this year.

Source

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Fox 5 DC

The only drawback is his age. Gregory, 71, will have to submit his resignation when he reaches 75, the age when every bishop must submit his resignation.

Whoever the pope is in December of 2022 will then decide whether to accept it.

If Gregory wants to accomplish anything, then, he will have to hit the ground running.

Normally, new bishops, if they are smart, spend the first year or two listening to their priests and people before beginning to act. At his age, there is no possibility of having a 10-year plan for the archdiocese.

Is he up to the challenge?

Yes.

Gregory has been a bishop for almost half his life, beginning as an auxiliary bishop at 36 years of age, only one year over the minimum age required by church law.

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, Gregory's patron and mentor, saw his potential and fostered his career.

Nor did Bernardin use him the way most diocesan bishops use their black auxiliaries — that is, put him in charge of an inner-city parish.

Rather, Bernardin made sure Gregory was prepared to shepherd a diverse flock. This served him well when, in 1994, he was appointed bishop of Belleville, Ill., where he was the sole African-American clergyman.

He was also thrown into the clergy abuse mess in Belleville, where he suspended five priests as bishop.

But over time his response gained mostly positive reviews.

Enemies

This experience served him and the church well when he became president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in 2001, just before the Boston sex abuse catastrophe broke.

As president of the conference, he was a real leader pushing the bishops kicking and screaming to adopt the Dallas Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People in 2002.

Gregory made a lot of enemies by pushing strongly for the charter.

His mentor, Bernardin, also began to lose favor as the papacy of John Paul II turned the church in a more conservative direction.

When Gregory was appointed to Atlanta, many church insiders concluded that he was being sent into exile. Bernardin, who died of cancer in 1996, had hoped Gregory would get Washington or another cardinalatial see.

You can bet that Bernardin is doing a victory dance in heaven.

Impeccable credentials

As I said at the beginning, Gregory will be good for the church, the city and the country.

He has impeccable credentials for dealing with the sex abuse crisis, which is essential for healing the church. He also is very pastoral, able to connect with people of all backgrounds.

He is smart and a good preacher.

He will also be good for the city, where the black population often feels marginalized.

He will be good for the country because he knows how to present the church's message of justice, reconciliation and peace without appearing partisan.

He is fully supportive of his mentor's consistent ethic of life, which is concerned about abortion but does not abandon the child once it is born.

His experience as president of the USCCB, where he often had to speak on issues of public policy, will serve him well under the spotlight of the Washington media.

Washington should rejoice to have such a good bishop; too bad we may not have him very long.

• Thomas Reese SJ is is a senior analyst at Religion News Service, and a former columnist at National Catholic Reporter, and a former editor-in-chief of the weekly Catholic magazine America.

The office has technically been vacant since the last archbishop, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, resigned in October.

Wuerl had been damaged by claims that he covered up sex abuse in his previous diocese of Pittsburgh.

He had also maintained - in the face of claims to the contrary - that he knew nothing about the predatory sexual activities of his notorious predecessor, Theodore McCarrick.

Washington is perhaps the most sought-after diocese for ambitious American bishops - but a particular kind of bishop.

While the Archbishop of New York finds himself rubbing shoulders with media and cultural luminaries, Washington's archbishop has priceless access to lawmakers and political lobbyists.

McCarrick's talents as a fundraiser and Wuerl's masterful diplomacy served them well in the post.

But because Washington is at the very heart of the current sex-abuse crisis, the Vatican couldn't afford simply to hand the see to the next bureaucrat in line.

The Vatican had to decide whether it wanted a reformer who would expose McCarrick's network of enablers and fellow-predators - or, shall we say, someone more discreet, who would protect the Church's public image.

Which role will Archbishop Gregory play, if he has indeed been chosen?

Gregory, who would be the first African-American Archbishop of Washington, served as president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) from 2001 until 2004, leading the American bishops through the first chapters of the Spotlight revelations.

It was under his leadership that the USCCB drafted its protocols for handling allegations of predatory priests, known as the "Dallas Charter" - though McCarrick was its principal author.

In any event, Gregory certainly has more experience in dealing with the fallout from clerical sex abuse than most of his brother bishops.

He is not, however, the sort of reformer that conservative Catholics were hoping for. Continue reading

• Image: Fox

Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta did this in response to a new Georgia law that will allow licensed gun owners to carry arms into schools, churches and other places.

"Before this legislation takes effect in July, I will officially restrict the presence of weapons in our Catholic institutions except for those carried by the people that civic authorities have designated and trained to protect and guard us - and those who are duly authorised law and military officials," Archbishop Gregory said.

Critics have dubbed the legislation the "guns everywhere bill".

Georgia's Catholic bishops and more than 200 other faith groups in the state opposed the new law.

"The last thing we need is more firearms in public places, especially in those places frequented by children and the vulnerable," Archbishop Gregory said.

Previously in Georgia, licensed gun holders were not permitted to carry a firearm into a house of worship.

The new law continues to prohibit weapons in houses of worship "unless the governing body or authority of the place of worship permits the carrying of weapons or long guns by license holders".

However, the law diminishes the penalty for carrying weapons in a house of worship to a US$100 fine with no arrest permitted for a licensed gun holder.

A person carrying a weapon without a licence would only face a minor charge.

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed the Safe Carry Protection Act on April 23, saying it strengthened the rights of gun ownership as outlined in the United States Constitution.

Archbishop Gregory said that rare occasions of past violence in churches are not sufficient justification to allow people to bring more weapons in God's house.

The archbishop said he did not mean to suggest restricting firearms in "places where they are needed to protect one's home and property or to defend the public by officials who are entrusted with our protection".

"Yet this new legislation de facto makes firearms more available in places where they may allow violence to escalate," he added.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• Atlanta Journal-Constitution
• Image: Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The proceeds will go towards the needs of the local Catholic community.

There had been public and media criticism about the archbishop's new residence.

Continue reading

Altanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory has apologised to Catholics in his archdiocese for failing to consider the pastoral implications of his plans.

He regretted the impression his new home sent to Catholics in his area who give to the Church while struggling to pay their own bills.

The example he set for following Jesus' was also not adequate, he acknowledged.

Archbishop Gregory will meet with his various councils for guidance; if they advise him to sell the home, he will seek a new residence elsewhere.

While the project could be justified financially, logistically and practically, these reasons were not sufficient, he wrote.

"What we didn't stop to consider, and that oversight rests with me and me alone, was that the world and the Church have changed," he wrote in his archdiocesan newspaper.

Pope Francis has called for a Church which is poor and is for the poor.

Archbishop Gregory wrote that the example of Pope Francis has "set the bar for every Catholic and even for many who don't share our communion".

In the US state of New Jersey, building plans for residences of two Catholic bishops are under fire from laity as being too lavish.

"Francis has very definitely sent out a signal, and the signal is that bishops should live like the people they pastor, and they shouldn't be in palaces," British papal biographer Paul Vallely told The New York Times.

"Where people are historically in that kind of accommodation it is one thing, but where people are building it, it looks extravagant," he said.

Archbishop Gregory's residence plans came after a multi-million dollar bequest from Joseph Mitchell, the nephew of "Gone with the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell.

Last month, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of German Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, better known as the "bishop of bling."

Bishop Tebartz-van Elst drew scrutiny of his own for renovation and building projects in his Limburg diocese estimated at US$40 million.

Sources

• National Catholic Reporter
• New York Times
• Religion News Service
• Image: Yesworld

About US $4.4million has been or is to be spent on residences for priests and Archbishop Wilton Gregory.

The money came from a US$15 million bequest from Joseph Mitchell, nephew of Margaret Mitchell.

Continue reading