Atlanta Archbishop Wilton Gregory To Sell $2.2 Million Mansion

[hue]

Source: HUFF POST

SMYRNA, Ga. (AP) -- The archbishop of Atlanta says he has decided to sell his $2.2 million residence following a storm of criticism from parishioners.

Archbishop Wilton Gregory said Saturday that he will leave the Tudor-style residence in the exclusive Buckhead neighborhood in early May.

The church leader earlier this week apologized for building the mansion. He announced his decision after meeting Saturday with clergy and lay people from within his archdiocese.

Local Catholics have faulted Gregory for the opulent spending, citing the example of austerity set by Pope Francis.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/05/atlanta-archbishop-mansion-_n_5097457.html

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...Followers of Jesus...

[Ilsa]

1. Finally, someone gets it right. nt

[AtheistCrusader]

2. Long after the fact, yeah.

[Cryptoad]

13. You really think

He got it "right"?

[Ilsa]

23. He took corrective action, for his own good and

the good of his people, even if he had to be beaten over the head with empty collection plates. He could have remained silent and tried to wait it out until attention was shifted to some local pedophile priest story.

I guess I should have said, "He finally got it right."

[LeftofObama]

3. I'm going to have to learn the words to that vow of poverty that gets you

a 2.2 million dollar house. I want to be that poor!

[No Vested Interest]

4. Before you learn those words, you might want to learn

who exactly takes a vow of poverty.
Hint: not diocesan priests.

[Victor_c3]

5. as for the vow of poverty...

(I'm not at all religious or a believer by any means, so my comments hardly matter)

but I could see the guy having a personal assistant and a secretary or two because of the importance of his position, but living a life of opulence seems contrary to christian ideals.

[hrmjustin]

17. He didn't take a vow of poverty.

He is a diocesan bishop but not a religious.

[tabasco]

28. Is he a Christian priest???

Then what the fuck is he doing building a GODDAMN MANSION.

That 2.2 mil could have helped a lot of poor people.

Who gives a flying fuck about a vow of poverty? It's about DOING THE RIGHT THING.

[hrmjustin]

39. I don't agree with what he did.

All I was saying is he didn't take a vow of poverty.

[DeSwiss]

30. That's one interpretation:

Matthew 19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” link

- It appears to me, that if one ''follows Christ'' one should probably be doing the things he says followers should do. And I've never seen a denominational escape clause(s)......

[hrmjustin]

38. I never sad he was right but thst he never took a vow of poverty.

[justhanginon]

6. I don't know how long it took

to build this friggin' mansion but did it really take this long for anyone in the church hierarchy to notice? It seems like an accountant or treasurer or somebody would have seen the money going out to pay for this. 2.2 million is not an inconsequential sum.

[Plucketeer]

8. That IS the question, eh???

How in Hades did he BUILD this thing without anyone questioning his motives? It's easy to see why parishioners NEED some sort of compass - however flawed it might be. Geesh!

[hue]

9. Proof positive that parishioners are truly sheeple!

[A Simple Game]

19. Seems as thought there would be a board of directors or something similar. n/t

[SunSeeker]

7. I guess the archbishop never heard Jesus' "camel through the eye of a needle" line.

[Cryptoad]

15. Todays Christian Churches

stop following the Teaching of Jesus long time ago..... It interferes too much with Church Doctrine!

[valerief]

10. When someone who's taken a vow of poverty can't live in a luxury mansion, the

world is going to pot.

[hrmjustin]

18. He didn't take a vow of poverty.

If he was a religious such as a Franciscan then he would of taken the vow.

But I like your point.

[hue]

21. One doesn't need to take a vow of poverty to follow Jesus' teachings.

What is our inner "temple"?

When Jesus became angry & turned over the money baskets in the Temple and said:

Matthew 21:12-13

Jesus at the Temple

12 Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’[a] but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’”

Jesus was talking about our hearts, minds & souls.

We know what was important to Archbishop Wilton Gregory.

[hrmjustin]

40. All good points.

[Sunlei]

11. "after selling his old home to Christ The King Cathedral for $1.9 million."<<for a priests home!!

[rhett o rick]

24. I am asking from ignorance. Is this his personal wealth we are talking about? The $1.9 million? nm

[MADem]

12. No one would fault him if he lived in a nice one bedroom condo with a pool and workout

room as part of the condo fees.

I just don't get why he thinks he needs more than that. If he ever had to entertain, most condo complexes have rooms that can be reserved for a small fee/cleaning deposit.

[calimary]

14. Well, why couldn't he entertain in the church rectory? Or the basement? Surely the local

cathedral has meeting rooms and such. Or redo the storage room for a reception area. For Pete's Sake! I don't care what your title is in the church. Any church that professes to follow and spread the teachings of Jesus Christ does NOT need a 2.2 million dollar mansion for its pastor to luxuriate in. Luxury is NOT what it's supposed to be about. Jesus loved the poor and gave THEM the place of honor, the rich He threw out of the Temple and instructed them to forsake their wealth and give away all their belongings if they expected to earn a place in Heaven.

What a disgrace!!!!

[MADem]

32. If he wants to have a birthday party for his favorite niece, the parishoners shouldn't foot that

bill. He can pay to rent the common room at the condo, same as anyone else, if his one bedroom apartment can't fit all his guests. I don't have any problem with priests having ordinary lives where they celebrate with family like every one else so long as they understand the difference between their personal and private lives, and using their office for personal gain, or sponging off the parishoners.

The major argument for that glitzy house was "entertainment" and they didn't specify if the entertaining was church related or not. Anything church related can get written off, and in that case, they can rent a function room at the Sheraton or the Hyatt or what-have-you, instead of having a giant barn sitting there waiting for the odd event.

It costs money to heat churches. Or cool them in hot climates. This is why the whole "rectory" concept has gone by the wayside, and priests often live "off campus" as it were (leading to these crazy abuses). The pope, if I am not mistaken, when he was the cardinal of Argentina or whatever they called him, lived in an apartment in a modest neighborhood, not a fancy rectory or residence.

No reason why priests can't do the same; even if the church bought a small condo with decent security near the church and let the priest(s) live in it while they had the job, that's fine. No reason for a priest in a city like Atlanta to live in squalor, but no need for them to live like a king either.

[Paladin]

16. Lenny Bruce got it right, as usual.

He said that anybody professing to be a man of God who owns more than one suit is a hustler. Amen.

[A Simple Game]

20. Even I would allow the man a change of clothes or two.

What would the average business man have for suits?

[hue]

22. Archbishops do not pay for, launder or iron their own clothes/cassocks.

[A Simple Game]

36. Probably true, but I would bet they change them on occasion. n/t

[rhett o rick]

25. Serious question, why is anyone a Catholic today? nm

[onehandle]

27. Here...

[IMG][/IMG]

[rhett o rick]

47. Help me guess your point. "We have a new Pope that isnt as terrible as the others." Is that it? nm

[DeSwiss]

31. The high production values?

- They'd probably get even more of a turnout if they just added some smoked brie along with the wine and crackers......

[onehandle]

26. Pope Francis is moving mountains in the RCC. nt

[daybranch]

34. As a born again Christian,

I say bless Pope Francis. I only hope so many who claim to be Christians listen to him. The poverty in the world is due to a system installed by the greedy.

[rug]

45. +1

[Beacool]

29. In other words, the Vatican found out and the Pope is not amused.

He didn't want to end up like the German "Bishop of Bling". The Pope called him to the Vatican and read him the riot act, he then removed him from his post.

[ucrdem]

33. The video says the $$ came from Margaret Mitchell's nephew

and was specifically earmarked for Diocesan use. And wikipedia says "From that amount he took $2.2 M to build a new archbishop residence on property donated to the church that would also serve as a banquet and conference facility." So this is not a private Hearst castle so much as a nicely appointed Diocesan facility. Too fancy, perhaps, and if it had been a little plainer it might not have stirred up a shitstorm, but after all it was paid for by Gone with the Wind which is not exactly austere.

Wiki also says Wilton was president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, a fairly high-profile position, from 2001 to 2004, and I remember seeing him in that capacity on TV once or twice. So I imagine he had plans for this facility beyond his own room and board and considered the expenditure a wise use of the donated funds. Which, all things considered, it probably was, had somebody somewhere not decided to stir the pot, and I suspect that he's mainly guilty of being black on the job.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilton_Daniel_Gregory

[7962]

35. Really? You're gonna blame this on him being black? Nonsense.

He's been in his position for many years and is well liked by church members in his district; I am one. I've never heard of any negative talk of him until this. He is also the leading voice nationwide for preventing child abuse in the Church.
This wouldnt be an issue at all had they just built the living quarters as a separate part of the building. It should have been obvious that mixing the two and making it all look like his house would cause problems in the Catholic community. Priests, Bishops, etc just dont live in opulent surroundings.
It should've been built similar to a hotel; one building, but rooms are separated from the conference and banquet hall facilities. I doubt there would have been a problem with that, unless there was a lot of ornate and costly decorations.
But if you have evidence of any church members speaking ill of him just because he's black, by all means let's see it.

[ucrdem]

37. A hotel would cost considerably more than 2.2 M.

Atlanta's building codes and zoning laws might be different but in Calif the complex you're describing would run at least 10 mil and would probably not be permitted in that neighborhood. From what I could see in the video they got good value for the money and given the unusual nature of the gift the structure does not strike me as excessively opulent or self-indulgent. However I understand that optics are important and if this gives an appearance of same then I think Wilton made the right call, even if the diocese has to take a hit on the sale which it probably will. As to the rest I can only speculate and I wouldn't expect anyone to admit it, not right now anyway.


p.s. if the property was donated they would have had to abide by the zoning restrictions of the neighborhood which I'd imagine is single-family residence only.

[7962]

41. I'm sorry, I didnt mean to imply they should build a complete hotel-type building.

I think the biggest problem is that this home is in the suburbs. If they wouldve built something more in-town maybe people wouldnt have had such a problem with it. But in his defense, the donation did specify where the money was to be spent. They just shouldve done a better job letting people know AHEAD of time what they were going to do, then concerns wouldve been raised before anything was built

[ucrdem]

42. I agree with you there.

The Mitchell gift is a pretty big deal and apparently came with artifacts from her estate which should probably be placed in some kind of library or museum facility with public access, even a small one. So some public discussion seems in order.

[hue]

43. The donation was to go for " religious and charitable purposes."

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/04/atlanta-bishop-apologizes-for-building-2-2-million-mansion/

A Georgia bishop has apologized for building a $2.2 million home using donated money earmarked for religious and charitable use.

Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory build the mansion on property donated to the church by Joseph Mitchell, the heir of “Gone with the Wind” author Margaret Mitchell’s fortune. Wilton tore down the building on the property and built a much larger house.

The mansion was built with funds from the Mitchell estate that were to be used for religious and charitable purposes.

[ucrdem]

44. More on the Mitchell gift from the Georgia Bulletin, Aug. 16, 2012:

The Archdiocese of Atlanta has received a substantial gift from the estate of Margaret Mitchell’s nephew, Joseph, including a 50 percent share of the trademark and literary rights to “Gone With the Wind.”

The estate of Joseph Mitchell included a multi-million dollar bequest to the archdiocese and the donation of his home on Habersham Road in Atlanta.

One of two sons of Margaret Mitchell’s brother, Stephens, Joseph Mitchell died in October 2011. He was a member of the Cathedral of Christ the King and asked that, if possible, his donation assist the Cathedral in a particular way.

“It is a magnificent gift,” said Deacon Steve Swope, who has been shepherding the transition of the bequest on behalf of Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory.

The remarkable inheritance passed on to the archdiocese includes a collection of signed “Gone With the Wind” first editions published in various languages in countries around the world and an unpublished history of the Mitchell family, handwritten by Margaret’s father, Eugene Muse Mitchell.

Some of Margaret Mitchell’s personal effects, including her wallet with her press card and library card, and furniture from her apartment have been given to the archdiocese.

A library of books includes histories and signed first editions of the late Georgia Catholic author Flannery O’Connor’s novels and short stories.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2012/08/margaret-mitchell-heir-leaves-estate-to-archdiocese-of-atlanta/

Not sure what "particular way" here means but it seems open to interpretation.

[ladjf]

46. So what. He didn't say what he was going to do with the proceeds from thes sale. nt

[rhett o rick]

48. Are the proceeds his person wealth? If so, he should give it to the church. nm

[ladjf]

49. Who knows? n