The following is excerpted from Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s March 25, 2020 interview with Mark Zimmermann, editor of the Catholic Standard newspaper and website of the Archdiocese of Washington, and Rafael Roncal, editor of the archdiocese's Spanish language publication El Pregonero. The archbishop spoke about the first anniversary of his being named as the new archbishop of Washington by Pope Francis on April 4, 2019.
Rafael Roncal: “In your first year in the Archdiocese of Washington, what have been your greatest moments of joy and satisfaction, and which have been the moments of greatest concern?
Archbishop Gregory: “It just so happens at this very day, almost within this hour of this very day, I got a call from the nuncio on the 25th of March, informing me the Holy Father wanted me to become the archbishop of Washington, almost exactly one year ago today, almost to the hour.
“My greatest moment of joy, of course, had to do with the ceremonies of installation. I can remember with great delight the Mass that I celebrated that Sunday after the installation at the basilica, coming to the cathedral and being welcomed by the cathedral family and standing outside and shaking hands, and hearing these words repeatedly in many different languages: ‘Welcome. Welcome, we are so glad you’re here. Welcome.’ It filled my heart with great joy. It was at that moment I felt, ‘I’m home. I’m home. I’m in the midst of a family that wants me to be here.’ So I felt very much at home, and very blessed.”
“The challenging moments have been listening to the frustration, the concern, the anger, the disappointment, the scandal that the people of the archdiocese endured last year or in 2018 with the revelations about Theodore McCarrick, the publication of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury report, the spirit of frustration, anger, disappointment that still has to be resolved. It’s an ongoing process that we still have to walk through together. Anger and disappointment can be generated rather quickly, but they have to be healed over time with compassion, with patience, with prayer, with openness, so we’re going down that journey together.”
Mark Zimmermann: “Archbishop, your column for the Catholic Standard is titled, ‘What I Have Seen and Heard.’ Can you summarize what you have seen and heard in your first year as archbishop of Washington?”
Archbishop Gregory: “The first thing I’d have to say, I’ve seen and heard that this is a healthy church. It’s a church that faces problems, no question, that has to continue its healing process.
“But at its foundation, at its root, it is a healthy church. It is also a hopeful church. It wants to continue its growth. It wants to restore trust in leadership, and once leadership has violated trust, it takes a long time to restore that trust. It can be lost in the twinkling of an eye, but it takes a long time, and over extended experiences of honesty and open dialogue and generosity, will that trust be re-established. But I believe that it will be. I’m working hard on it. I think our priests, our religious, our deacons are working equally hard, and I feel very, very much supported and encouraged and loved by them, and I assure them of my affection, my support and my personal esteem.”
Mark Zimmermann: “When you were named here, it was noted that you would be the first African American archbishop of Washington. In one of your first Masses here, the people at St. Augustine Parish greeted you with shouts of joy when you appeared in the doorway. St. Augustine, the mother church for African American Catholics in the nation’s capital, was founded in 1858 by free men and women of color, including some who had been emancipated from slavery. Historically, African American Catholics in the Archdiocese of Washington kept the faith through times of slavery, segregation and ongoing racism, both in society and the Church. What have you learned, and what can all Catholics learn, from that witness of African American Catholics?”
Archbishop Gregory: “I was humbled to the point of tears when I entered St. Augustine’s. To see the depth of faith, to feel the gift of fidelity that was so apparent in that community and in so many other communities.
“One of the things that I also discovered that I had only read about or at least been peripherally aware of, was the great legacy of Catholicism among African Americans to be found in Maryland, in the small towns and rural communities of the diocese, the counties in the state of Maryland where I’ve gone to many, many parishes where there has been a vibrant African American presence for years, for centuries in some cases, and that gives me a source of pride, too, to know that the (legacy of faith of those) forebears of those African American Catholics throughout the state of Maryland is deep, is rich.
“You asked the question, ‘How can that inspire all Catholics?’ It’s the gift of fidelity, in season and out of season, as St. Paul says, they have given a great witness of their love for Christ and for Christ’s Church.”
Mark Zimmermann: “Before becoming Washington’s archbishop, you served as a priest and auxiliary bishop in your native Chicago, and as bishop of Belleville, Illinois, and archbishop of Atlanta. Now that you’ve been here nearly a year, what does serving as archbishop of Washington have in common with those earlier responsibilities, and how is this role unique?”
Archbishop Gregory: “Well, first of all, there’s a great commonality in all of those experiences, at least in my life.
“Chicago is an urban city comprised of many cultural communities, a great diversity of people struggling with the issues of urbanization.
“Belleville was a rural community, having been settled in many instances by German Catholic immigrants coming over during the time of the Kulturkampf (a conflict between the government of the kingdom of Prussia and the Roman Catholic Church from 1872-78), bringing their faith, but placing it in rural, small town communities.
“Atlanta of course is the capital of the South. It enjoys that wonderful heritage of the South. It helped me understand some of the struggles that the Civil War left on our nation, and the causes of the Civil War.
“So with those experiences coming to Washington, I have to throw in the highly politicized nature of this community. It is the seat of our federal government, because of that, it becomes entangled with so many national issues that are important and often difficult to resolve because it is the place where we try to make unity of the 50 states and the people that comprise this great nation of ours, so it’s a political challenge.
“But the people I’ve encountered here in this past year, they are unique in the sense that they live in the nation’s capital, but they are absolutely the same as the people I found in Chicago, Belleville and Atlanta, needing care, love, respect, and the challenge to be faithful to Christ and welcoming and loving to their neighbors.”
(On April 3 and 4, two more articles featuring excerpts from the archbishop's interview will be posted on the Catholic Standard website, including his reflections on the coronavirus outbreak's impact, and his insights on immigration issues.)
