First African American Conference of Bishops President Becomes Sixth Archbishop of Atlanta

Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, the immediate past president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was appointed by Pope John Paul II to serve as the Archbishop of Atlanta, on Thursday, December 09, 2004.

Gregory, who until now served as the bishop in Belleville Ill., will become Atlanta’s sixth archbishop. Incumbent Archbishop John F. Donoghue resigned earlier this year.

Gregory, 57, will likely remain in the history of American Catholicism as both the man who served and suffered as the bishops’ head throughout the peak of the clergy sex-scandal crisis and the first African American president of the bishops conference.

During his three year tenure, Gregory said he was driven “to his knees,” in many parts because of the pressures of dealing with the explosive sex-scandal cases. Gregory also set in place a zero-tolerance policy to convicted offenders, despite some opposition from Catholic clergy. Additionally, he established a lay watchdog group to help enforce the zero-tolerance plan.