New York Times

Archbishop Is Appointed for Atlanta

December 10, 2004
By ARIEL HART 

ATLANTA, Dec. 9 - Pope John Paul II has named Bishop Wilton
D. Gregory, who led the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops through the sexual abuse scandal, to head
the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

Bishop Gregory, who is currently bishop of the Diocese of
Belleville, Ill., will be installed as archbishop in
January, the archdiocese said.

Under Bishop Gregory's leadership, the bishops' conference
adopted measures in 2002 to deal with the scandal,
including mandates to remove any priest from the ministry
who had molested a child, to report child sexual abuse to
public authorities, and to create a structure to ensure
church leaders' accountability.

The promotion can be viewed as a vote of confidence, said
the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, editor in chief of America, a
Jesuit magazine.

Bishop Gregory was elected president of the bishops'
conference in November 2001, and the sexual abuse scandal
exploded two months later.

Victims' rights groups were less than ebullient about his
promotion.

"He's better than most, but by no means a saint," said
David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network
of Those Abused by Priests. Mr. Clohessy said that Bishop
Gregory had started out well but failed to drive the
reforms home, and that the oversight groups the bishops
created were toothless.

Some priests and bishops said the policies Bishop Gregory
advocated were not compassionate enough toward wrongly
accused priests or those who had repented and reformed.

The change in leadership was welcomed by John Dearie,
chairman of the Atlanta affiliate of Voice of the Faithful,
which has worked during the scandal for a say by laity in
church matters. "Our hope is that Bishop Gregory will be
more receptive than the outgoing archbishop" to such input,
Mr. Dearie said.

Archbishop John F. Donoghue submitted his resignation from
the Atlanta Archdiocese at 75, as required. Mr. Dearie said
Archbishop Donoghue had refused to allow his organization
to meet in church buildings.

Bishop Gregory, whose three-year term ended in November,
was the first African-American to preside over the
Conference of Catholic Bishops, and will be Atlanta's third
African-American archbishop.