Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington, DC, has essentially been missing for about three months. March 8 was the last Sunday of public Masses in the Archdiocese of Washington, with a ban announced by Gregory on March 12. The government of Washington, DC, has limited church congregations to a whopping ten people -- even in the first COVID-19 phase of reopening. Considering all of the other large public gatherings in Washington, an outrage. Not a public word from Wilton Gregory.
No public Masses are being offered in the nation's capital -- not even at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest church in North America. The DC government limit of ten people applies to that church, which seats thousands. Not a public word from Wilton Gregory.
Today, though, Wilton Gregory woke up and spoke up. Not on public Masses, or confessions, or any sacraments. He chose to make his most public statement of the year to condemn the Knights of Columbus and the U.S. president for a visit to the John Paul II shrine in DC for an event on international religious freedom. Today marks the anniversary of JPII's famous nine day pilgrimage that started with a liturgy in Warsaw on June 2, 1979.
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| Wilton Gregory, doing who knows what |
The JPII shrine, owned by the Knights of Columbus, issued a response to Gregory's attack.
Archbishop Gregory, whose "mentor" was the infamous Cardinal Joseph Bernardin (who made him auxiliary bishop of Chicago) is a longtime liberal, the focus of this March 2019 piece when he replaced Cardinal Donald Wuerl. Gregory's "installation" ceremony featured disgraced Cardinal Roger Mahony. Since then he has been a typical leftist bishop, but relatively quiet until today.
"All Are Welcome" of course. Except when they're not. This is the Church of Wilton Gregory.
