Thomas Gumbleton

Born in Detroit in 1930, Gumbleton attended Sacred Heart Seminary High School, and later Sacred Heart Seminary. He then went on to study at St. John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan, and also the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He earned a B.A. degree in 1952, a M.Div. degree in 1956, and then a J.C.D in 1964.

On June 2, 1956, Gumbleton was ordained to the priesthood in Rome by Cardinal Edward Mooney for the Archdiocese of Detroit. [1] In 1968 Gumbleton was appointed as Vicar General for the Archdiocese,

On March 4, 1968. Pope Paul VI appointed Gumbleton as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit and Titular Bishop of Ululi. He was installed and consecrated on May 1, 1968 by then Archbishop John Francis Dearden. [1] He served as the pastor to a number of parishes including St. Aloysius, Holy Ghost and St. Leo's in Detroit until 2007.

In December 1980, Gumbleton founded the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights with former Episcopal Bishop Harry Coleman McGehee, Jr. and Rabbi Richard Hertz.[2][3] Gumbleton's Sunday homilies from St Leo's parish are documented by the National Catholic Reporter, where he also wrote a regular column.[4]

On May 6, 1987, Gumbleton was one of eight protestors arrested at the US Department of Energy Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada. The arrestees were protesting the testing of nuclear weapons at the site.[5] On June 4, 1999, Gumbleton was among 26 protestors arrested for blocking an entrance to the White House in Washington, D.C. They were protesting the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War.[6] On March 27, 2003 Gumbleton was arrested along with other protestors for violating a ban on large demonstrations in Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. The protest was about the US invasion of Iraq on March 19.[7]

On January 11, 2006, Gumbleton testified at a hearing at the Ohio General Assembly in Columbus about sexual abuse in the Catholic church. The Assembly was considering a bill to create a legal window for victims of sexual abuse to sue the perpetrators. In his statement, Gumbleton endorsed the bill and called for all states to enact ones like this one. Gambleton also revealed that he was sexually abused by a priest as an adolescent while in the seminary. He stated;

"I don't want to exaggerate that I was terribly damaged. It was not the kind of sexual abuse that many of the victims experience. They are intimidated, embarrassed, and they just bury it. I understand that. never told my parents.... I never told anybody..[8]

According to an account given by Gumbleton in 2011, the bishops of Ohio opposed the proposed sexual abuse bill and were incensed by his testimony. They immediately complained to the Vatican about him. A few days later, Gumbleton received a letter from Cardinal Giovanni Re in Rome, saying that Gumbleton had violated the solidarity of communio episcoporum (communion of bishops) by supporting the Ohio bill. Re said that Gumbleton must resign immediately as auxilary bishop and as pastor of St. Leo's Parish[9][10][11] On February 6, 2006, Gumbleton submitted his letter of resignation as Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit to Pope Benedict XVI.[1]

In 2009, the Marquette Citizens for Peace and Justice invited Gumbleton to speak about peace at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Marquette, Wisconsin. However, when Bishop Alexander Sample of the Diocese of Marquette heard about the invitation, he asked Gumbleton not to come. Sample said that Gumbleton had not done the courtesy of asking permission, plus Sample did not agree with Gumbleton's views on the ordination of women and homosexuality.[12]

In 2012, Gumbleton signed the Catholic Scholars' Jubilee Declaration on reform of authority in the Catholic Church.[13] Gumbleton was required under church law to submit his resignation when he turned 75. At that time, he petitioned to remain in office.[14] On January 14, 2020, Gumbleton declared that Catholics should not participate in US wars.[15]

Gumbleton has written extensively on Catholic teaching regarding homosexuality. Gumbleton often draws from his personal experience of having a homosexual brother.[16] During his time as bishop, Gumbleton wore a mitre at a church service on which were symbols of the cross, a rainbow and a pink triangle. The pink triangle caused particular complaints by some due to its history as a symbol of gay rights, after its use to identify homosexuals in Nazi Concentration Camps.[17] Gumbleton also came into the public eye before the Vatican's Instruction with regard to the ordination of homosexual men was released, arguing against Fr. Baker's article on the issue in America.[18]