Served as Priest and Bishop in ChicagoBishop Wilton Gregory, currently the Bishop of the Diocese of Bellville, Illinois, and a former auxiliary bishop in Chicago, has been named Archbishop of Atlanta by Pope John Paul II.   His appointment is effective today.  Bishop Gregory succeeds Archbishop John F. Donoghue, who submitted his mandatory resignation at age 75 on August 9, 2003.

Bishop Gregory was ordained a bishop on December 13, 1983 and served in the Archdiocese of Chicago as an auxiliary bishop for 10 years.  He was appointed bishop of the Diocese of Bellville on February 10, 1994.  In November of this year, Bishop Gregory completed a three-year term as president of  the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).  He was elected that organization’s vice-president in 1998 and served in that position for three years.

A Chicago native, he attended St. Carthage Elementary School, Quigley Preparatory Seminary South, Niles College (now St. Joseph’s College Seminary) of Loyola University, and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary.  He was ordained in 1973 and served as associate pastor at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Glenview, and was on the faculty of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary, Mundelein.  Bishop Gregory holds a doctorate in Sacred Liturgy from the Pontifical Liturgical Institute in Rome

Bishop Gregory, who is 57 years old, was the first Black president of the USCCB and has spoken often and directly about the sin of racism in the church and in society.  He has written extensively on Catholic opposition to physician-assisted suicide and the death penalty.  He has published numerous articles on the subject of liturgy, particularly in the African-American community.