NEW JERSEY
The Record
APRIL 2, 2014
BY JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
In a controversy that may resonate with Catholics in North Jersey, Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory seems to have gotten the pope’s message about modest living.
Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s home in Atlanta.
Days after Pope Francis permanently removed a German bishop for his lavish spending on a new residence, the Atlanta cleric apologized for building a $2.2 million mansion as his residence. He bowed to criticism from local parishioners and said he would consider selling the new home in Buckhead, Atlanta’s toniest neighborhood.
In letters, emails and a meeting, local Catholics told Gregory that the price tag was outlandish, especially in light of Pope Francis’ frugality. The Tudor-style mansion, stretching nearly 6,400 square feet, includes two dining rooms and a safe room. The archbishop said the new pope has “set the bar” for church leaders and others, and Gregory said he hadn’t looked at the project’s cost in terms of his own “integrity and pastoral credibility.”
Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s home in Atlanta.
Meanwhile, Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark, who at church expense is expanding his retirement home in upscale Hunterdon County, appears determined not sell the house or halt construction, his spokesman said, even as many parishioners protest the extravagance.
Located on 8 acres in rural Franklin Township, Myers’ home will be about 1,000 square feet larger than Gregory’s Atlanta mansion.
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