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92_HR0545
LRB9211063RHrh
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3 Representatives are pleased to recognize milestone events in
4 the lives of the citizens of the State of Illinois; and
5 WHEREAS, On Tuesday, November 13, 2001, the United States
6 Conference of Catholic Bishops elected Bishop Wilton Gregory
7 as its first African American president; and
8 WHEREAS, Bishop Wilton Gregory was born on December 7,
9 1947 to a "generically Christian" family on the South Side of
10 Chicago; he converted to Catholicism in the 6th grade shortly
11 after his parents enrolled him at St. Carthage School at 73rd
12 and Yale in Englewood; within weeks, he had designs on
13 becoming a priest; and
14 WHEREAS, Bishop Gregory attended Quigley Preparatory
15 Seminary South, Niles College of Loyola University and St.
16 Mary of the Lake Seminary; he was ordained a priest on May 3,
17 1973 and served his first assignment as associate pastor of
18 Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glenview; he rose quickly
19 through the ranks of the Chicago church to become its first
20 black auxiliary bishop in 1983; a decade later, Pope John
21 Paul II named him bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, which
22 includes 28 counties in Southern Illinois; in addition, he
23 helped establish the Office for Black Catholics of the
24 Chicago archdiocese; and
25 WHEREAS, Bishop Gregory was elected vice president of the
26 National Conference of Catholic Bishops/U.S. Catholic
27 Conference in 1998; he is known as a stirring orator and a
28 moving preacher and he has written extensively on important
29 issues; therefore, be it
30 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
31 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
-2- LRB9211063RHrh
1 we congratulate Bishop Wilton Gregory on becoming the first
2 African American president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic
3 Bishops; and be it further
4 RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
5 presented to Bishop Wilton Gregory as an expression of our
6 esteem.