Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, George was elected chair of the Bishops’ Committee on Divine Worship (BCDW) or the USCCB today at the conference’s fall meeting in Baltimore.
Archbishop Gregory earned a doctorate in liturgy is from Benedictine-led Sant’ Anselmo in Rome in 1980. He was USCCB president 2001-2004. He has served on numerous conference committees, including as chair of liturgy (then BCL) 1991-1993. He has published numerous articles on the subject of liturgy, particularly in the African-American community. He has nine honorary doctoral degrees.
Pray Tell reported earlier on Gregory’s statement that the newly translated English Missal of 2011 has “flaws and difficulties” and “needs correction.” When asked about the new Missal at a conference in March, 2014, Gregory said this:
Certainly the new translation is not… [pause] … without its difficulties. How’s that for being diplomatic? [laughter] I think that what we need to do with that translation, to be perfectly honest, its imposition, [correcting himself] – it’s in possession, we need to live with it for a while before we take up the task of saying, “This is not adequate to the worship needs of our church, for this reason, for that reason, for this reason,” the pastors of the church have said, “This is a difficulty, that is a difficulty, let’s look at it.” I think what we had to do was receive it, try to live with it, and come up with a much better and informed review of its flaws and difficulties. …
What we need to do now, after a period of time of living with it, come back and say, not: “We told you so!” – which I think a lot of pastors want to say – “We told you not to do that!” [laughter] – but to say, “It’s inadequate for this reason, that reason, this reason; we’ve tried it, we’ve lived with it, we think it needs correction.”
Archbishop Gregory was up against Bishop John Barres of Allentown, PA, whom he defeated 124-114. Gregory will serve as chairman-elect for one year before beginning a three-year term as BCDW chair.
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