Hes better than most, but by no means a saint, David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said in 2004, adding that Archbishop Gregory had started out well but had failed to drive the reforms home.
In April 2019, Francis named Archbishop Gregory the archbishop of Washington. He was the first African-American to lead the archdiocese, which had been without a leader for nearly six months.
His predecessor, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, had resigned the previous October after he was named in a Pennsylvania grand jury report that accused church officials of covering up sexual abuse. Cardinal Wuerl had succeeded Thomas E. McCarrick, whom Pope Francis defrocked in February 2019 after church officials found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adult seminarians over decades. Mr. McCarrick was the first American cardinal to be removed from the priesthood.
Archbishop Gregory promised to restore confidence in the archdiocese. To establish trust, you have to begin with truth, he said. Thats the first step.
In recent months, Archbishop Gregory has urged church leaders to improve race relations. Recalling his time as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago, and said it was important for young Black Catholics to feel represented.
Ours is the task and the privilege of advancing the goals that were so eloquently expressed 57 years ago by such distinguished voices on that day, he said at the Mass commemorating the anniversary of the March on Washington. Men and women, young and old, people of every racial and ethnic background are needed in this effort.
In June, Archbishop Gregory staunchly criticized President Trump for visiting the Saint John Paul II National Shrine in Washington a day after protesters were forcibly moved so the president could walk cross Lafayette Square to pose with a Bible in front of St. Johns Episcopal Church.read more
Who Is Wilton Gregory, the First African-American Catholic Cardinal?
