Black History Month Celebration and Mass to Feature Wilton Cardinal Gregory, The First Black Cardinal in America

Black History Month cultural festivities, sponsored by The Brooklyn Vicariate for Black Catholic Concerns and The Office of Multicultural Diversity for the Diocese of Rockville Centre, will begin at 4:00 p.m. The Mass of Thanksgiving will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Wilton Cardinal Gregory is the first African-American bishop to be elevated to the College of Cardinals within the Catholic Church. Cardinal Gregory will be the principal celebrant and homilist at the Mass. Bishop Brennan, Bishop Barres and Auxiliary Bishops and priests of both the Dioceses of Brooklyn and Rockville Centre, will concelebrate the Mass.

Wilton Cardinal Gregory was appointed by Pope Francis as the seventh Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Washington on April 4, 2019 and was installed on May 21, 2019. Cardinal Gregory is the Chancellor of The Catholic University of America, the Chairman of the Board of Trustees for The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and previously has served as the Chairman of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops.

He was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago on May 9, 1973 and was ordained an Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago in 1983. On February 10, 1994, he was installed as the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Belleville, Illinois, and on January 17, 2005, he was installed as the sixth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.

Members of the media are invited to attend and are asked to reply to this e-mail to confirm their attendance. The Mass will be live-streamed via the Brooklyn Diocesan cable network NET-TV and online at netny.tv