Last November during Black Catholic History Month, Catholics of African descent proudly added a new commemorative date to their calendars when the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops elected Bishop Wilton D. Gregory (right) their first African-American president.

As head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), he will carry out the wishes of the group by producing research and position papers on policies and social issues important to all Catholics, such as abortion, terrorism, commitment to Africa, immigration, school choice and debt reduction. This event is particularly significant because Black clergy have urged the Church to become more culturally relevant in recent years and Black Catholics have long awaited recognition in the high ranks of the church. Despite the fact that its membership has grown considerably more ethnic in recent years, leadership of the Catholic Church has remained mostly white. Gregory is one of only 11 active Black U.S. Catholic bishops who lead a Catholic following of about 63.7 million Catholics nationwide; only about an estimated 2 to 3.5 million of them are Black.

Bishop Gregory is proud of this “first” for African Americans, but he hopes that the impact of all the attention he receives because of his race will serve as a tool to help all people. “The broad spectrum of issues that I will have to address goes well beyond the issues that are often identified as African-American concerns. For example, when I speak out in support of justice for the immigrant community, be they Hispanic or Asian or South Pacific or European, I speak as a Catholic bishop, but I also speak as an African American and we [all] have a stake in those concerns.”

Bishop Gregory openly recognizes the pride that Black Catholics feel in his new leadership role and he speaks openly about the obligation of all Catholics to help eradicate racism but he is determined not to focus solely on race. “This isn’t like a political election where I name a cabinet and craft policies and programs. I have to do what the bishops want me to do,” he said. “I am to execute the directives, policies and programs of the bishops.” However, he added, “I will do it in my own style.” And why not? His personal style has worked well for him thus far. Bishop Gregory has a reputation of being a highly respected consensus builder who is able to reach both sides and, he is greatly admired for remaining approachable despite his rank. What’s more, the bishop has demonstrated time and again that hard work and education can take you places you never expected to be.

First Things First

Bishop Gregory never set out to hold the presidential post in the USCCB, in fact, he wasn’t even born or raised as a Catholic. But when he was in the sixth grade, he was enrolled in St. Carthage School on Chicago’s South Side, his family seeking what they believed would be a better quality of education than what was available in the public schools. A few weeks after the school year began, the young Wilton realized he wanted to be a priest and by the end of the year, he had taken the most important steps to achieving that goal: he was baptized, received his first communion and was confirmed a Catholic. Soon thereafter, he attended Chicago’s Quigley Preparatory, a high school seminary, Niles College (now St. Joseph’s College Seminary) of Loyola University and Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary. By the time he was 25, he was ordained a Catholic priest.

Bishop Gregory received his doctorate degree in Sacred Liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome when he was 33 and has written extensively on the subject. Just days before his 36th birthday, he became the youngest bishop in the country and began a 10-year stint as an auxiliary bishop to the late Cardinal Bernardin in Chicago.

More Than What Meets the Eye

According to the Catholic News Service, “It was while serving as chairman of the bishops’ Committee on Liturgy from 1990-93 that Bishop Gregory began to develop a broader public profile than being one of a handful of African-American Catholic bishops. He adeptly led the bishops through a series of sometimes controversial endeavors, including changing holy days of obligation, adopting an English translation of the Sacramentary and approving a lectionary for children’s Masses.” In 1994, the pope appointed him to head the Diocese of Belleville which put him in charge of 28 southern Illinois counties of about 105, 000 Catholics. This community of small farming towns and the poor, predominantly Black city of East St. Louis had many challenges awaiting. For starters, there were overt racist reactions to his appointment; moreover, there had just been eight priests removed from their parishes for alleged sexual abuse of minors. But none of this hindered his effectiveness. Bishop Gregory was lauded for his openness in disciplining the offenders, credited with helping heal the wounds left by the scandals and praised for restoring the reputation of the diocese. Since then, Bishop Gregory has further proven his leadership ability by serving on and chairing many important USCCB committees. For instance, he is chairman of the Bishops’ Committee on Personnel and serves on the Conference’s Executive and Administrative Committees. Other recent committee assignments have included the Committee on Doctrine, the Ad Hoc Committee on Sexual Abuse, and the Committee on International Policy.

A modest man, Bishop Gregory was surprised and flattered the first time he was among 10 bishops nominated to head the conference in 1995 and again three years later when he was re-nominated and elected vice president. “I didn’t know. Literally, I didn’t have an inkling that was in the works,” he said. Once it really set in though, Bishop Gregory jumped right in to preparing for his probable election as president. “Part of the work of the vice president is to follow up on many of the activities going on so on beginning his term as president, a bishop is fully informed of issues that face the conference,” he remarked. Then, on November 13, 2001, at the age of 53, he won the election for president of the USCCB with 186 of the 249 votes, and the other 63 scattered among nine candidates. His runner-up captured a mere 21 votes.

A Man for Everyone

Now, several months into his three-year term, Bishop Gregory’s desire to see all sides remains a priority. He assured Belleville that his new position is “another opportunity to serve the church. Obviously, my first responsibility and obligation is to our own diocese, but I’ll have the opportunity to make a contribution to the church on the national and international level,” stated Bishop Gregory. He reminded the bishops, “To elect a Black president of the USCCB is a wonderful and important sign of our commitment [to be inclusive and multicultural], but it can’t be the only sign. We haven’t achieved all that we need to achieve by having a Black president.”

To all Catholics, he exhorted, “The day-to-day struggle, the constant commitment to the social teaching and to the truth of the Gospel that stand in contradistinction to racism have to be the ongoing policy of the conference and of every local church, and of every Catholic. We can rejoice at [this] one event, but not presume that the battle is over, because it isn’t.” And for Black Catholics, Bishop Gregory wishes “this three-year term will help African Americans who have become ‘lukewarm’ in their faith to return to the Catholic Church.”

Even though Bishop Gregory’s new role isn’t one that can potentially change the church itself, Black Catholics see the symbolism of it as extremely important. They believe that it will further prove the capabilities of African Americans for high ranks of leadership in the church, and they welcome the possibility that the church will finally practice what it preaches when it comes to embracing all cultures in its membership and in its leadership.

Pamela M. McBride is a career management consultant and frequent contributor to THE BLACK COLLEGIAN Magazine.