22 Facts About Thomas Gumbleton

Thomas John Gumbleton was an American Catholic and a prominent social activist.

Thomas Gumbleton then studied at St John's Provincial Seminary in Plymouth, Michigan, and the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome.

Thomas Gumbleton earned a Bachelor of Arts in 1952, a Master of Divinity in 1956, and a Doctor of Canon Law in 1964.

On June 2,1956, Thomas Gumbleton was ordained to the priesthood in Rome by Cardinal Edward Mooney for the Archdiocese of Detroit.

In 1968, Thomas Gumbleton was appointed vicar general for the archdiocese.

Thomas Gumbleton was consecrated on May 1,1968, by Archbishop John Dearden.

Thomas Gumbleton 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, Thomas Gumbleton founded the Michigan Coalition for Human Rights with former Episcopal Bishop Harry McGehee, Jr.

On May 6,1987, Thomas Gumbleton was one of eight protestors arrested at the US Department of Energy Nevada Test Site in Mercury, Nevada.

On June 4,1999, Thomas Gumbleton was among 26 protestors arrested for blocking an entrance to the White House in Washington, DC They were protesting the NATO bombing campaign in Serbia during the Kosovo War.

On March 27,2003, Thomas Gumbleton was arrested along with other protestors for violating a ban on large demonstrations in Lafayette Square in Washington, DC The protest was about the US invasion of Iraq on March 19.

Re ordered Thomas Gumbleton to resign immediately as auxiliary bishop and as pastor of St Leo's Parish.

On February 6,2006, Thomas Gumbleton submitted his letter of resignation as auxiliary bishop of Detroit to Pope Benedict XVI.

Thomas Gumbleton had been required under church law to submit his resignation when he turned 75 in 2005.

In 2009, the Marquette Citizens for Peace and Justice invited Thomas Gumbleton to speak about peace at St Mark's Lutheran Church in Marquette, Michigan.

Sample said that Thomas Gumbleton had not offered the courtesy of requesting Sample's permission to speak, and as Sample did not agree with Thomas Gumbleton's views on the ordination of women and LGBTQ+ rights, he was obliged to silence him.

Sample called it "unfortunate" that his effort to silence Thomas Gumbleton had become public, and offered prayers for those harmed.

From 2006 to 2020, Thomas Gumbleton regularly published his sermons in a column called The Peace Pulpit.

Thomas Gumbleton died in Detroit, Michigan, on April 4,2024, at the age of 94.

Thomas Gumbleton often drew from his personal experience of having a gay brother.

Thomas Gumbleton came into the public eye before the Vatican's Instruction with regard to the ordination of gay men was released, arguing against a ban in a 2007 issue of America.

In 2012, Thomas Gumbleton signed the Catholic Scholars' Jubilee Declaration on the reform of authority in the Catholic Church.