Bishop Gregory to be honored by New York black ministry office

Published: 2004-08-26

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The Office of Black Ministry of the Archdiocese of New York will give its 2004 Pierre Toussaint Medallion to Bishop Wilton D. Gregory, the first African-American bishop to be elected president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The bishop of Belleville, Ill., will be honored "for his distinguished service to the church and the black community" at a dinner Sept. 30 in New York to benefit the Toussaint Scholarship Fund. From this fund, the black ministry office makes one-time grants to help graduating seniors with their first year of college. Recipients must demonstrate academic excellence, active church involvement and commitment to service. The dinner program will also commemorate the 20th anniversary of "What We Have Seen and Heard," a pastoral letter on evangelization in the black community issued by Bishop Gregory and nine other black bishops in 1984. A native of Chicago who entered the church as a youngster, Bishop Gregory became an auxiliary bishop of Chicago and the youngest bishop of the United States in 1983 at the age of 36.

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