ST. LOUIS (MO)
KMOX Radio
April 5, 2019
By Fred Bodimer
Pope Francis has named the former Bishop of Belleville — Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta — to become the new Archbishop of Washington D.C.
Archbishop Gregory is replacing Cardinal Donald Wuerl who resigned last year after he was implicated in covering up sexual abuse in the Church.
“This is obviously a moment fraught with challenges throughout our entire Catholic Church, certainly, but nowhere more so than in this local faith community,” Archbishop Gregory said at a Thursday news conference in Washington D.C. “And as in any family, challenges can only be overcome by a firmly articulated resolve and commitment to do better, to know Christ better, to serve Christ better. I would be naive not to acknowledge the unique task that awaits us.”
Archbishop Gregory was born in Chicago and was consecrated a bishop there in 1983 by the late Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin. He served as bishop of the Belleville Diocese from 1994 to 2005 before being elevated to Archbishop of Atlanta.
Archbishop Gregory has spoken out about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church on a number of occasions, including at a US Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting back in 2002 when he was the Bishop of Belleville and president of the USCCB.
“He’s going to be a great Archbishop for Washington,” said Father Thomas Reese, a senior analyst with Religion News Service and an expert on the Catholic Church. “He’s very pastoral. He’s smart. And he’s got a good record dealing with sex abuse, which is important today in the Catholic Church in terms of healing the kinds of wounds that the church has self-inflicted.”
But the leader of the St. Louis branch of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests — David Clohessy — isn’t so sure.
“Well there were certainly worse bishops to pick but Archbishop Gregory enjoys a better reputation on abuse than he should frankly,” Clohessy told KMOX. “His record is pretty mixed to be honest. On the one hand he did help shepherd the one strike policy and help it get adopted by America’s bishops. But on the other hand, he’s done very little to make sure that policy is enforced.”
Plus, Clohessy says Archbishop Gregory has benefitted from good timing.
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