Then-Bishop Gregory's 2004 Asia visit was a chance to 'do a little good'
When, in mid-August 2004, Wilton Gregory, then-bishop of Belleville, Illinois, showed up in Daejeon, South Korea, for the triennial meeting of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, his nameplate had been "corrected" to Gregory Wilton. They certainly didn't know of any St. Wiltons. The 100-plus bishops and theologians there from East, South and Central Asia knew little of this American but were surprised and delighted that he was, like almost all of them, a man "of color." The meeting had a detailed agenda and would produce an extensive final statement plus a "Message to the People of ...