At least multiple credible and incredible sources are saying!
· Pope Francis is expected to appoint Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta to serve as the next Archbishop of Washington, multiple sources have independently reported to CNA.
30 comments:
Based on his tenure in the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, I am concerned with this appointment.
I have a different concern from TJM--- he is on going on 72 years of age. Why would someone that old be appointed, when 75 is the customary retirement age? Sounds like a closed process, which it is of course....
There is a thriving FSSP parish as well as a thriving SSXP parish in Roswell.
It is a closed process. Archbishop Gregory is chosen because he can be a very effective leader in times of turmoil. He was such in 2002 while he was president of the USCCB in a time of tremendous upset and anger.
He is, to some degree, being rewarded for that exceptional service. I, for one, and surprised it did not come sooner, but better late than never.
If the red hat comes to him, he will, of course, have a vote in the next conclave, should it come within 8 years, which is likely.
Well, at least Catholic bishops have more endurance than their Episcopal counterparts...in the Episcopal Church, mandatory retirement is at 72. Heck, the bishop of the Savannah-based Episcopal Diocese of Georgia is calling it quits next year at only 63.
There are two axillary bishops up here--wonder if either one of them would be the likely successor? Or could Savannah's bishop move back to the diocese where he previously served before he assumed his current position?
Bishop Wilton was held in contempt of court for suppressing information on abusers while in Belleville. Perhaps he learned from that experience. I fervently hope so
Gregory and his ilk are what drives true Christians away from the Catholic Church.
The facts, not TJM's spin:
"A St. Clair County judge has found the Catholic Diocese of Belleville in contempt for failing to turn over medical records of a retired metro-east priest accused in two civil lawsuits involving child sexual abuse. Lawyers for the plaintiffs say the ruling is the first of its kind in the nation against a Catholic diocese for failing to turn over records. But a spokesman for Belleville Bishop Wilton Gregory, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said the diocese was found in contempt in at least one other lawsuit that it appealed." (2004)
The priest was removed from ministry NINE years earlier by Bishop Gregory. He did not "suppress" evidence.
Gene,
Is our dear Anonymous K in that group?
Oh great, another liberal disaster in waiting . He who said denying pro abortion politicians Holy Communion should be a last resort.
In some ways an astute choice, in other ways, concerning.
"Gregory and his ilk are what drives true Christians away from the Catholic Church."
I guess Gene did not see the headlines of the recent diocesan paper of Atlanta (or is it "fake news"?) that 1,800 persons are joining the Church at the Easter Vigils. Heck, the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta would love to have 180 join them---they have been losing members for years as the arch-liberals have a firm grip on that diocese, and their bishop dresses like a renegade---(usually) no miter and chasuble or cope, but he likes to wear multicolored stoles!
And no, I am not "Anonymous K". I don't like he lives in 30327. But I do...
I looked at the Catholic News Agency site where an editorial posed the question, "What Kind of Archbishop does D.C. Need?"
All I could think was, "It doesn't matter. They're not going to get it."
That statement about Gregory is not entirely without merit. He said, "driving TRUE Christians away from the Catholic Church."
It is not at all surprising that an archdiocese the size of Atlanta would have 1,800 converts joining at Easter Vigils. The question is WHY are they joining and what kind of Church do they think they are joining?
Many could be potential spouses who are becoming Catholic to satisfy a finance's request for an upcoming marriage.
Many could be people who have Catholic friends and are comfortable joining.
And many could be people who actually have a deep conviction about the true Catholic faith.
We don't know what kind of people are joining or what kind of Church they believe they are joining. Given that Archbishop Gregory has done so much to promote the gay side of things, it could well be that a significant number of the "converts" are joining because they see an ally in Gregory for changing the Church from within. A scary prospect indeed.
We do know what kind of people are joining the Church - sinners. Everyone who joins the Church, whatever his or her motivation, joins as a sinner.
As to their motivations, recall the very wise proverb, "Motivations can be purified."
Anonymous K,
I was just reporting what I read in your true bible, The New York Times. Were they mistaken? Or was that their spin?
Well, I guess Santita continuing the McCarrick/Wuerl approach, has appointed another weak sister to the See of Washington, DC:
https://georgiabulletin.org/news/2004/04/denying-communion-politician-supports-abortion-last-resort-bishop-gregory-says/
At least from the article we know Cardinal Arinze is orthodox
Oh TJM, you never give up, do you? Old Anonymous Kavanaugh? No, it ain't he.
Well, as we don't know who the other candidates were for the position to succeed Cardinal Wuerl, it is hard to judge if the other choices were worse. Like any Archdiocese or diocese, there is a mixture of liberal, conservative and moderate voices. As our archbishop for the last 14 years, he has not endorsed same-sex marriages and he has continued the annual Eucharistic Congress begun under his predecessor. It is easy to pontificate about how conservative a bishop is in some remote place like Lincoln, Nebraska or Peoria, Illinois. It is harder governing a diocese that is part of a large, increasingly secular metro Atlanta like Atlanta is (I don't say that with glee, but that is the reality of an area that backed Obama twice, Clinton in 2016 and Stacey Abrams last year).
Maybe someone out there has some suggestions about who the successor should be, and what qualities they should have. Not like I am going to know all the potential ideal candidates.
Anonymous:
Didn’t you know, people like TJM have access to secret knowledge? You really are Anonymous Kavanaugh even though you may not know it. You will just have to accept this Alternative Fact.
Anonymous Kavanaugh and Anonymous 2 of the Faculty Lounge,
PFs appointments have been fairly abysmal. He tends to pick tired old lefties who have compromised the Faith to the political delight of the Abortion Party. There are several Archbishops, quite orthodox from major sees like Vigneron of Detroit or Sample of Portland or Chaput of Philadelphia, or are those backwaters or podunkvilles? Strange how members of the so- called Party of the Little Guy delight in denigrating them. Then their is the highly talented Bishop of Springfield, Thomas Prapocki, both a canon and a civil lawyer who is quite a hockey player. But PF would never pick any of them precisely because they are orthodox, friendly to tradition, and don’t suffer fools in the heirarchy determined to give the Abortion Party a get out of jail free card. They are Thomas Mores not Thomas Cranmers.
Washington's "gain" is really Atlanta's gain.
Then again, who know's what's coming next...?
FYI, Bishop Paprocki of Sprinfield, IL, does not allow fake catholic Senator Dick Durbin to receive Holy Communion (Abortion Party). PF would NEVER want to take the risk of appointing Bishop Speaking Truth to Power in DC!!! Witnessing the Gospel is so passe
TJM:
I fear your are right and I am praying that PF would prove us both wrong. There is a website that rates bishops on their faithfulness to Church teachings and I found this about Wilton Gregory--much of it we knew already but seem to be turning our heads at:
•. Archbishop Gregory was one of two featured speakers at a gathering of liberal theologians and 15 bishops at Boston College in October 2017. The event, “Understanding Amoris Laetitia,” was hosted by progressive Cardinal Cupich. Gregory appeared to endorse communion for divorced and remarried Catholics when he said Amoris Laetitia “challenges the church and its pastors to move beyond thinking that everything is black and white, so that we sometimes close off the way of grace and growth.” He also said Amoris Laetitia is a “proclamation of hope through the mercy and grace of God.” (America)
•. Archbishop Gregory has designated a pro-gay priest who heads a homosexual-affirming parish as the “Spiritual Director for Victims” of sex abuse for the Atlanta archdiocese. (LifeSiteNews)
•. Archbishop Gregory was the keynote speaker at a conference hosted by a group of liberal, pro-gay Catholics priests in 2017. The group, which goes by the name Association of United States Catholic Priests, wants women to be ordained to the diaconate, the laity to run parishes and that there be an open discussion in the Church on the issue of married priests. (Lepanto Institute)
•. In 2004, Archbishop Gregory was the President of the USCCB. He, alongside Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, received a letter from Cardinal Ratzinger during the 2004 presidential election season. The letter said it was obligatory to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who obstinately support abortion and euthanasia. Gregory and McCarrick took it upon themselves to paraphrase the letter and inform their brother bishops at the June 2004 bishops’ gathering that Ratzinger basically wanted to leave the decision up to each bishop, thereby downplaying his real intentions. As a result, the bishops voted 183-6 to leave the implementation of Canon 915 up to each diocese. (The Washington Times)
•. Archbishop Gregory personally invited pro-gay Vatican adviser Fr. James Martin to give a speech titled “Showing Welcome and Respect in our Parishes to LGBT Catholics” on October 20, 2018 at St. Thomas More Parish in his Archdiocese. Martin is also scheduled to speak at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception on October 21st. (Georgia Bulletin)
•. Since being named Archbishop of Atlanta, Gregory has done nothing to stop a radical, pro-LGBT parish in his diocese from promoting, participating in and hosting a booth at the Atlanta gay pride parade. (LifeSiteNews)
•. Since 2014, Archbishop Gregory has allowed a dissident, pro-LGBT group that promotes transgenderism and homosexuality to have their annual retreat at the Chancery of the Atlanta Archdiocese. Gregory said mass and gave a homily at the 2014 and 2015 retreats. (Fortunate and Faithful Families)
•. In a column for The Georgia Bulletin in 2013, Gregory said the Church’s language on “sexual orientation” is often “unwelcoming and condemnatory.” Because of its “severity” it “occasionally suggests that certain members of the Church are superior to others,” he claimed. Gregory said that he told a pro-LGBT Catholic group that the Church “must welcome all of her sons and daughters — no matter what their sexual orientation or life situation might be.” (Church Militant)
So there you have it. One of America's most prolific archdiocese, reeling from the well-publicized abuses of an unquestionably homosexual cardinal, then enabled and protected by his successor is given "relief and comfort" by mother Church by Her sending a man with THIS record as a replacement.
I wonder how a group of Jewish refugees might have felt if Dr. Josef Mengele had been sent to offer THEM relief and comfort?
Lest we forget, there is also Richard Sipe's claims about Archbishop Gregory. So the choice makes perfect sense, considering the agenda of Francis and his minions.
Does this mean that we can finally get the rainbow flags removed from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception?
Well, TJM, good for Bishop Pap of Springfield concerning disciplining Dick Durbin. What is the size of that diocese anyway---maybe 100,000? Pretty easy to exert conservative control over some place that size. I suspect if he were appointed to head DC, the appointment would go over like a lead balloon....sometimes exerting such control can backfire. Back in 1989, there was a race for a state legislative post in San Diego---a Republican-leaning seat--where the Democrat campaigned pro-choice and the local bishop disciplined her. It backfired---the Democrat won the seat and the Republican candidate blamed the bishop for it. So you have to weigh the potential political consequences.
As for you asking whether Detroit or Philly are backwaters...well, do we see growth in those dioceses? How many people have those cities lost since the 1960s? Has Archbishop Chaput been particularly effective? Why, didn't the Philadelphia metro area voted 2-1 for Clinton over Trump?
As for Keyser's points concerning women deacons, parishes run by laity and married priests, well there have been some deaconesses ordained within Eastern Orthodoxy, and as for married priests, well they still exist today in the Eastern rite and to a limited extent in the western (Latin) rite. You know, married former Episcopal and Lutheran clergy who convert amidst the disintegration of their denominations. Yes, ordination of women priests is not consistent with traditional Christian teachings, but the same cannot be said for married priests.
I suspect too that Gregory had some influence over the appointment over the current bishop of Georgia's "other diocese"---wonder when I will start seeing criticism for that too?
Anonymous:
Perhaps it's time to ask ourselves how we measure the success of a bishop.
When Bishop Maher of San Diego disciplined Lucy Killea, it backfired because his brother bishops left him dangling alone. He had no support--a disgrace on the part of his brother bishops.
Have we so enshrined pragmatism that it takes precedence over duty?
Is the definition of a successful bishop a person who converts more people to the Church and raises more money or persuades more people to vote pro-life? Or is he more successful if he maintains the integrity of the Church in a Godless, amoral culture?
(BTW, have you been to Philadelphia? A huge section of the city is a degenerate ghetto).
Is the Catholic Church supposed to define itself by comparisons to the Orthodox?
If so, one can only say, "How far we have fallen."
Anonymous Kavanaugh,
Make up your mind, you called Lincoln, Nebraska, and Peoria, Illinois, backwaters (very elitist for someone who lives where YOU do) but when I mentioned the archdioceses that I did (Holy Church must consider them significant) you sniff. All of those cities have been run into the ground by the Abortion Party, if you are even interested in reality. Maybe if the Abortion Party hadn't run those towns they would still be economically viable and growing. We are seeing the same thing in Chicago which has lost over 300,000 in the last 20 years. Another Dem triumph. Even the African-American population is fleeing and most are heading to the Old Racist South. As for Springfield, Illinois, that is the state capital and ground zero for dealing with fake catholic politicians, in this case, Senator Durbin. I bet McCarrick would be slobbering all over him. If Paprocki were named to DC he would do the same thing to the fake catholics inhabiting that city. He is not a wimp nor a fake catholic
Oh TJM...lighten up! Where do you live anyway?
Maybe the Gregory "announcement" was a trial balloon...or an early April Fools Joke, like the prediction Duke would end up in the Final Four.
African Americans are heading to the racist South? Oh yes, I think I know that. After all, why do you think metro Atlanta now favors the "abortion party" these days? Ever heard of Stacey Abrams? She won the region by 14 points last year. Obama carried it (to my dismay) in both 2008 and 2012.
African Americans have BECOME the racist south. If you want to experience the absolute dominance of PC thinking and defining people by race, just spend an hour in any southern town with a black majority. And if you want to hear hatred in its most explicit terms, just listen to a group of black people talking about another black person who they think is "acting white."
But then again, they get to play by a different set of rules.
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