Religion / Civil rights & activism
Thomas Gumbleton
1930–2024 · Catholic auxiliary bishop, peace and social justice activist
Detroit-born auxiliary bishop (1968–2006) and nationally known peace activist who spent decades as pastor of St. Leo's, a poor inner-city parish.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
Detroit, Michigan
aged 94- Birth name
- Thomas John Gumbleton
- Also known as
- Bishop Gumbleton
- Detroit years
- 1930–2024
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Thomas Gumbleton was born in Detroit in 1930, attended Sacred Heart Seminary High School and was ordained in Rome in 1956 by Cardinal Edward Mooney. In 1968 Pope Paul VI made him an auxiliary bishop of Detroit and he soon became one of the most outspoken Catholic voices of his era. He opposed the Vietnam War and nuclear weapons, served as founding president of Pax Christi USA, the Catholic peace movement, and led Bread for the World, travelling to war zones from Central America to Iraq. At home he chose to live and serve as pastor of St. Leo's, a struggling parish on Detroit's west side, from 1983 until 2007. He also championed gay and lesbian Catholics and survivors of clergy abuse, stances that brought him into conflict with church authorities; he said he was forced out as auxiliary bishop in 2006 after testifying for an abuse-lawsuit bill in Ohio. He died in Detroit in 2024, aged 94.
Highlights
- Auxiliary bishop of Detroit, 1968–2006
- Founding president of Pax Christi USA
- Pastor of St. Leo's parish on Detroit's west side until 2007
- Advocate for peace, the poor, LGBT Catholics and abuse survivors