On Friday afternoon, April 5, I got a call from Nativity Parish. Fr. Blake Evans, the pastor, invited me to that evening's Lenten fish fry dinner because they were expecting a "special visitor" whom he wasn't free to identify.
Math isn't my strong suit, but I can add 2 + 2. I got my camera out, expecting that we'd be receiving our archbishop-elect, Wilton Gregory, whose appointment had been announced on Wednesday and who was in town starting to get acquainted with his new flock.
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| Moments after arriving, Abp. Gregory engages with one of the fish fry workers. |
And that turned out to be a good guess. Accompanied by Cardinal Donald Wuerl, our outgoing bishop, Abp. Gregory arrived shortly after 6:00 p.m., was greeted with applause, and stayed for 20 or 25 minutes, greeting this small portion of his flock--those on hand for a fish dinner and those who, like me, had been tipped off and specially invited.
The archbishop and cardinal were making a few parish rounds; they'd already had a supper somewhere before getting to Nativity. And the archbishop had deliberately chosen this way to get to know the archdiocese rather than to go to a Catholic Charities fundraiser that same evening. He proved to be friendly and patient, posing for numerous photos and chatting easily with folks and making a fine 1st impression. He was also pleased to know that he has Salesians in his new diocese and informed me that he'd had a Salesian professor in Rome once upon a time (I didn't recognize the name and don't remember now what it was).
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| Two Salesian Cooperators, Laura Juarez (l.) and Jocelyn Daughtry, with Abp. Gregory and Fr. Evans |
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