Bishop Thomas Gumbleton, 1979

In the United States, the dominant culture is often reflected more prominently than Christianity in the lives of its nominally Christian citizens. This is certainly as true of the Roman Catholic community as any other denomination. Sadly, it is especially true of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in the U.S. which, like the Vatican, has emphasized orthodoxy and neglected orthopraxis; has stressed the pastoral and neglected the prophetic. This may explain, at least in part, why the social teaching of the Church is its best kept secret. An alternative vision to the dominant version of Christianity has been consistently articulated and modeled by Bishop Tom Gumbleton.

Tom Gumbleton was born on January 26, 1930 in Detroit, Michigan, the sixth of nine children in an Irish Catholic family. As a young boy he dreamed of becoming a priest and he entered high school at Sacred Heart seminary in Detroit. He received the Bachelor of Arts degree from Sacred Heart in 1952. He received the Master of Divinity in 1956 from St. John’s Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, MI and was ordained to the priesthood on June 2, 1956. He spent 4 years as associate pastor at St. Alphonsus in Dearborn, MI  before being sent to Rome to study canon law during the period when Vatican II was underway. During this time Tom was able to meet and talk with such notables as Hans Kung and Yves Congar. as well as observe John XXIII at audiences in St. Peter’s Square. He was awarded the Doctor of Canon Law by the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome in 1964. He was appointed Bishop in March, 1968.

In 1968 Gumbleton was the youngest bishop in the United States. It wasn’t long before the young auxiliary bishop realized he was being passed over for an appointment to his own diocese. The bishop’s activism had made him less acceptable to the new Vatican administration  under John Paul II. Gumbleton was at first understandably upset at being passed over but eventually he realized that he was now more free to pursue issues of peace and justice. He  had already been active in civil rights struggles in Detroit and became more involved in speaking out against the war in Vietnam. In the early 70s, Gumbleton became the first bishop to be arrested for an act of civil disobedience (cd) at an Air Force base in Michigan. Then in 1973 he traveled with a small delegation to Vietnam to investigate the treatment of political prisoners held by the Saigon government in “Tiger Cages.” He returned to  talk about the atrocities he had witnessed and call for a Catholic commitment to nonviolence.

In 1972, Gumbleton became the Founding President of Pax Christi, USA, the U.S. branch of the international Catholic peace movement. The hope of the founders was that they could develop membership across the country and have a positive, tranformative influence on events.

In 2022, Pax Christi celebrated its 50th year of existence. At one point there were 140 or so bishops who were members of Pax Christi. That number had dwindled to 5 in 2015. Pax Christi members have been among the leaders of anti-war activities and the promotion of nonviolence in the Catholic Church. They had a major influence in the promotion of the 1983 peace pastoral The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response.

When the bishops met in Chicago to finalize the so-called peace pastoral in 1983, they were greeted by hundreds of people who marched through the streets of Chicago in a drenching downpour. Many members of Pax Christi were present and many were able to lobby some of the bishops for a strong condemnation of war and nuclear weapons. From its inception, Bishop Gumbleton had a leading role in the deliberations and writing of the peace pastoral. The final draft of the pastoral was ratified by all but 9 of the bishops. That draft condemned nuclear war; condemned the use of nuclear weapons; condemned all counter population warfare; condemned the initiation of nuclear war; and challenged the theoretical possibility of limited nuclear warfare. The final draft did allow a temporary and limited acceptance of nuclear deterrence as policy as long as it was only a step toward total disarmament. Bishop Gumbleton was unhappy with that latter conclusion accepting conditional deterrence and has asked the bishops to revisit that issue.

The pastoral also made two significant statements about nonviolence and peacemaking. It stated that “Peacemaking is not an optional commitment. It is a requirement of our faith.” It also stated that “We believe work to develop nonviolent means of fending off aggression and resolving conflict best reflects the call of Jesus both to love and to justice.”

In September, 1997, Bishop Gumbleton traveled with a Voices in the Wilderness (VITW) delegation to Iraq in violation of both U.S. and United Nations sanctions against that country.

While in Iraq, he and activists from VITW decided to work together in Washington, DC at the upcoming National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) gathering in November to try and get the bishops to pass a resolution condemning the sanctions and requesting that the US end them.

As the bishops gathered at the Washington, DC Hyatt Hotel for the national conference in November, three members of VITW sat in the lobby with a display of pictures showing dying children in Iraq and talking to bishops as they arrived about the effects of sanctions on the Iraqi people. Their presence nearly got them arrested because Hyatt security felt their presence in the lobby was disturbing their guests. Bishop Gumbleton tried to get the sanctions added to the NCCB agenda for the meeting. The amendment got 163 votes while 168 were required and Iraq sanctions were not included on the agenda. An alternative statement was composed by the VITW people and was signed by 54 of the bishops present. The statement and the beginning of a fast by Bishop Gumbleton and several other bishops was announced at the Washington, DC

National Press Club on January 20th, 1998 and received wide-spread attention. Among the signers of the statement was retired bishop Gerald O’Keefe of the Davenport Diocese.

Tom’s peace and justice work in Central America, Asia, Haiti, the Middle East, and his advocacy for the gay and lesbian Catholic community resulted in his being black listed by some bishops. He testified at an Ohio House Judiciary Committee in January, 2006, regarding a bill on the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. The bill was considering a window to allow victims to sue their perpetrators. Tom supported the bill and asked that the statute of limitations be extended. In his testimony he revealed his own abuse story from his high school seminary days. The bill had already been opposed by the Ohio bishops. Within days Tom received a letter from the Vatican saying he had violated the “communion of bishops’ and was asked to resign as auxiliary bishop and as pastor of St. Leo’s in Detroit.

Nonetheless, Tom continued to speak his conscious on several issues facing the church and society. He criticized the lack of transparency in the church and cited the Vatican bank scandal and sex abuse scandal as examples. He advocated for the ordination of women to the priesthood. He was the instigator along with Cardinal Bernardin of “Always Our Children” which urged support for gays within the church. He has lamented that we have never asked for forgiveness for Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the out-of-control violence in our society. He continues to speak out about poverty, violence around the world, and the environment.

The Kay Lasante (House of Health) Clinic in Haiti was formed in 2004 through the combined efforts of the St. Claire Parish community of Fr. Jean Juste, House of Grace Catholic Worker  in Philadelphia, and Bishop Tom Gumbleton. The clinic was run by Haitians. When a 7.2 earthquake hit Haiti on Aug. 14, 2021, Johanna Berrigan and Tom organized a medical team which went to Haiti and assisted the team there to aid the victims.

Bishop Gumbleton has been presented numerous awards for his work for peace and justice. He has also been the recipient of many honorary degrees. He has been widely published and his papers have been preserved in the archives of Notre Dame University. The bishop has traveled extensively and his destinations have included many areas of conflict. He has also gone to Austria to visit the family of Blessed Franz Jagerstatter, who was executed by the Nazis for refusing to fight for Germany in WWII.

In January, 2020, as he approached his 90th birthday, Bishop Gumbleton issued a strong call to Catholics to end complicity with war which was published on the progressive news website: www.commondreams.org The statement was critical of the ongoing war on terror and said in part:  "I call on Catholics in the military, including chaplains, as well as all who work for the military or any branch of the armaments industry, to heed Pope Francis’ call to set aside the futility of war. All Catholics should refuse to kill and should refuse cooperation with United States wars. Catholic taxpayers should make every effort to avoid paying for war and weapons. Rather, embrace Jesus, who calls us to love our enemies, put up the sword, and take up the cross." Jan 14, 2020

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton embodies what Catholic social teaching looks like in action.

~ Chuck Quilty