Gumbleton Gone

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, retired auxiliary bishop of Detroit, announced at Sunday Mass Dec. 17 that he was being asked to leave St. Leo’s Parish in Detroit, where he has been stationed since 1983.

Gumbleton told NCR that he expects a new pastor to be appointed within a month. He also said he expects to continuing his weekly column, The Peace Pulpit, on the NCR website.

...Gumbleton also said he was anxious that his last days at St. Leo’s not be turned into “a media circus.”

“I would just as soon not have Sunday liturgy become something that is about me. I want to keep the parish going as a parish as we have for 20 some years,” he said.

“I don’t see any point in people coming to demonstrate or anything of the sort. It’s not like it’s my funeral Mass or something like that. I just want everything to continue to be as much for the parish as possible and not be flooded with outsiders.

“Christmas celebrations and Sunday liturgies should continue to be parish liturgies and not liturgies that are all about me. We have a very vibrant parish community and I want it to be that way.”

An excellent gesture on his part, though I doubt if it will make much difference to his fans. When you spend so much time working at breaking down authority you can't much expect that your own authority will mean much when it does not suit others NCR for their part are doing what they can to make it a media circus since I received a email alert from them on this story. Something that I have not received from them before.