Former Belleville Bishop Wilton Gregory May Lead Diocese in Washington, D.c., Report Says

By Lexi Cortes
News Democrat
March 29, 2019

https://www.bnd.com/news/local/education/article228559604.html

Former Belleville Bishop Wilton Gregory could soon become one of the most influential Churchmen in the nation, according to a report from a Catholic news outlet.

The Catholic News Agency reported Thursday that Gregory, 71, has been asked to serve as the next archbishop of Washington, D.C.

It wasn’t clear whether he accepted Pope Francis’ appointment as of Friday. Gregory did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the Belleville News-Democrat or CNA.

Gregory came to the Diocese of Belleville from his hometown of Chicago in 1994. He served as Belleville’s bishop until 2005, when he became the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

His leadership experience includes serving as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops when the crisis of sex abuse by Catholic clergy was escalating, according to an Archdiocese of Atlanta biography.

The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a St. Louis-based victims group, said nearly 10 percent of Belleville’s priests were removed in the early 1990s, most of them before Gregory became bishop.

In 2002, the USCCB established procedures for addressing allegations that priests were sexually abusing children in their “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People” under Gregory’s leadership.

S.N.A.P. said in a news release Thursday that it hoped Gregory would add photos, current locations and work histories of the “credibly accused” priests in the D.C. area in his new appointment, like it has called for Bishop Edward K. Braxton to do in Belleville.