HYATTSVILLE (MD)
Catholic News Service
May 20, 2019
By Julie Asher
Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory will have a lot of things on his plate when he becomes the newest leader of the influential archdiocese situated in the nation’s capital: the sexual abuse roiling the Catholic Church, the tense political climate on the Hill and the challenges that come with learning about a new archdiocese.
The newest archbishop of Washington knows what his first priority will be however.
The “first and most important thing” is “getting out in the field and meeting the people,” Archbishop Gregory said in a May 17 interview.
He has six listening sessions scheduled with priests of the Washington Archdiocese, and “I’m trying to fill up my calendar right now with moments when I can be in the parishes with the people,” he said. Like “a Sunday supply priest,” he wants to visit local parishes to say Mass and afterward stand at the back of church and greet people.
Archbishop Gregory has “no fancy requirements” for such visits, nor would he expect any “fancy preparation.” He just has “the real desire to be there as a listener,” he said, adding that “it is that casual encounter with people that often proves to be the most fruitful.”
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