CONGRATULATIONS, 137th PARISH ANNIVERSARY!
A BIG WELCOME TO OUR SPECIAL GUEST, His Eminence Wilton Cardinal Gregory, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington. It is a great honor for our Parish faith community to receive Cardinal Gregory and to have him joining us this Sunday in our celebrations of our 137th Parish Anniversary. Please, see below the life story and career of this shepherd who was elevated by the late Pope Francis to the College of Cardinals almost five years ago.
His Eminence Wilton Cardinal Gregory was born December 7, 1947, in Chicago to Wilton Sr. and Ethel Duncan Gregory; he has two sisters, Elaine and Claudia. He attended Quigley Preparator Seminary South, Niles College of Loyola University and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary. He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 9, 1973, and three years after his ordination began graduate studies at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute (Sant’ Anselmo) in Rome. There, he earned his Doctorate in Sacred Liturgy in 1980.
After having served as an Associate Pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Glenview, IL as a member of the faculty of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein and as a Master of Ceremonies to Cardinals John Cody and Joseph Bernardin, he was ordained an Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago on December 13, 1983. On February 10, 1994, he was installed as the seventh Bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, IL where he served for the next eleven years. On December 9, 2004, Pope Saint John Paul II appointed Bishop Gregory as the sixth Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and he was installed on January 17, 2005. Pope Francis appointed him as the seventh Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington on April 4, 2019. He was installed on May 21, 2019. On October 25, 2020, Pope Francis named then-Archbishop Gregory one of thirteen new cardinals from around the world. Cardinal Gregory was elevated by Pope Francis to the College of Cardinals in a November 28, 2020 Consistory in Rome.
Cardinal Gregory currently serves as a Member of the Vatican Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life and on the Board of Trustees for the Papal Foundation. Additionally, he is the Catholic Co-Chair of the National Council of Synagogues consultation for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
In July 2023, Cardinal Gregory was appointed by Pope Francis as a Member for the Synod of Bishops on Synodality. The Vatican Synod of Bishops on Synodality, “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission,” is a process that begun in 2021 which was followed by a second Synod Assembly in 2024. In 2025, he participated as a cardinal elector in the papal conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV.
Cardinal Gregory has served in many leading roles in the U.S. church. In November 2001, he was elected President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) following three years as Vice President under Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston. During his tenure office, the crisis of sex abuse by Catholic clergy escalated; and under his leadership, the bishops implemented the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.”
Cardinal Gregory has written extensively on church issues, including pastoral statements on the death penalty, social justice, and euthanasia/physician-assisted suicide. Cardinal Gregory has published numerous articles on the subject of liturgy, particularly in the African American community.
Cardinal Gregory has been awarded nine honorary doctoral degrees. In April 2023, Cardinal Gregory received The Lincoln Academy of Illinois – Order of Lincoln Award, the State’s Highest Honor for Public Service and Professional Achievement.
In 2006, Cardinal Gregory joined an illustrious group of preachers with his induction into the Martin Luther King, Jr. Board of Preachers at Morehouse College, Atlanta. At the National Pastoral Life Center in Washington, D.C., Cardinal Gregory was honored with the Cardinal Bernardin Award given by the Catholic Common Ground Initiative (2006)