Thomas Gumbleton, Progressive Voice as a Catholic Bishop, Dies at 94
Thomas J. Gumbleton, a Roman Catholic bishop from Detroit whose nationally prominent support of liberal causes often clashed with church leadership, but who grounded his views in the 1960s Vatican reforms that promoted social justice, died on Thursday in Dearborn, Mich.
He was 94. His death was announced by the Archdiocese of Detroit, where he served for 50 years. Bishop Gumbleton protested the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War and U.S.
foreign policy regarding Central America in the 1980s. He opposed fellow Catholic bishops by speaking out in favor of same-sex marriage and the ordination of women.
He championed victims of clergy sexual abuse and blamed that advocacy for his ouster as pastor of St. Leo Catholic Church in Detroit in 2007, a contention that the archdiocese disputed.
