First African-American chosen to head
bishops
By PATRICIA LEFEVERE
Washington
How did a black man, raised by unchurched parents in
one of Chicagos poorest areas come to lead the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops? Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., laughed at the
question, noting, It was a done deal.
After all, hed already been elected the conferences
vice president in 1998, a spot that nearly guarantees a bishop will eventually
get the top spot.
Gregory, 53, the third youngest of his 11 predecessors in the job,
said he hoped his election might express the love of the Catholic church
for people of color and might encourage the lukewarm
Catholics of his race to return to the practice of our
faith.
The South Side Chicagoan has never been lukewarm about his
religion. He chose to become a Catholic at age 11 after his parents moved him
and his two sisters into a Catholic school, fearing they would not be properly
educated in their inner city public school. The year was 1958 and John XXIII
had just been elected pope.
The next year Archbishop Albert Meyer of Milwaukee was appointed
archbishop of Chicago. The following year plans were underway for the Second
Vatican Council. It was a very exciting time; every year something great
was happening in the Catholic church, said Gregory, smiling like the
poster boy for Catholic Schools Week.
He continued his Catholic schools journey another two decades
earning degrees at Loyola University in Chicago, St. Mary of the Lake Seminary
in Mundein, Ill., and a doctorate in sacred liturgy from the Pontifical
Liturgical Institute (SantAnselmo) in Rome. At 35 he became the youngest
bishop in America, serving a decade as an auxiliary in Chicago.
The son of a computer technician, Gregory made an intervention on
cyber communications during the recent synod of bishops in Rome.
Gregory took over an unusually difficult assignment when he was
appointed to his southern Illinois diocese of 110,000 Catholics in 1994. At the
time 11 Belleville priests had been investigated for sexual misconduct in two
years. It is generally recognized that he has brought stability to a diocese
that had been rocked by ugly scandal. Candidates for the priesthood in his see
today must submit to criminal background checks.
He chaired the bishops Committee on Liturgy (1991-93) and is
known to favor a special rite for Americas two million black Catholics,
one that would better reflect their culture. Last year he helped to author the
Illinois bishops pastoral, Moving Beyond Racism: Learning to See
with the Eyes of Christ.
In his new job, Gregory sees himself as an executor
rather than the kind of president who has to name a cabinet and a set of
programs and activities. The jobs significance is in its consistency, he
said, in following policies the bishops have established. So much will be
determined not by my decision but by the events we face.
Gregory indicated in both a news conference and in an address to
his brother bishops that he would lean heavily on the bishops conference
staff, who, he said, have chosen to share their expertise with the bishops
while at the same time suppressing their own points of view in order to advance
the bishops agenda.
Gregory garnered 75 percent of the votes from 249 prelates on the
first ballot.
Bishop William Skylstad, 67, of Spokane, Wash., defeated
Archbishop Justin Rigali of St. Louis on the third ballot -- in a field of 10
candidates -- to become conference vice president. The vote: 141 to 110.
Gregory and Skylstad will hold office until Nov. 2004.
Skylstad told NCR he felt humbled and
privileged to serve. Asked to explain his win, he said, My
sense is we are who we are in service to the church
and the votes were
there. Currently he is the episcopal liaison for Catholic Charities USA
and for Worldwide Marriage Encounter. He also serves on the Social Development
and World Peace Domestic Division Committee, the Bishops Committee for
Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs and has just finished chairing the Ad Hoc
Committee on Bishops Life and Ministry.
Bishop William Murphy of Rockville Centre, New York and Bishop
John Ricard of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Fla., each got 125 votes for the
important International Policy Committee. In such cases, the older man wins.
But as both were born in 1940, Ricard, a Leap Day arrival, leaped to victory
over Murphy, whose birthday is in May.
National Catholic Reporter, November 23,
2001
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