UNITED STATES
Catholic Herald (UK)
An American archbishop has said sorry for building a $2.2 million mansion for himself, after complaints from Catholics that it contradicted Pope Francis’s call for austerity.
According to the Associated Press, Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, who was president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2001 to 2004, recently moved into a home measuring nearly 6,400 sq ft. The property was built after a donation from the estate of Joseph Mitchell, nephew of Margaret Mitchell, author of Gone With The Wind. When Mitchell died in 2011, he left more than $15 million to the archdiocese on the condition it be used for “general religious and charitable purposes.”
“I am disappointed that, while my advisers and I were able to justify this project fiscally, logistically and practically, I personally failed to project the cost in terms of my own integrity and pastoral credibility with the people of God of north and central Georgia,” Gregory wrote in a column for The Georgia Bulletin.
“I failed to consider the impact on the families throughout the Archdiocese who, though struggling to pay their mortgages, utilities, tuition and other bills, faithfully respond year after year to my pleas to assist with funding our ministries and services.”
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