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Styles of Gregory Lawrence Parkes
Reference style	His Excellency The Most Reverend
Spoken style	Your Excellency
Religious style	Bishop

Gregory Lawrence Parkes (born April 2, 1964) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Parkes has been serving as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of St. Petersburg in Florida since 2017. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee in Florida from 2012 to 2016.

Early life and education

Gregory Parkes was born on April 2, 1964, in Mineola, New York. His brother Stephen Parkes is the Bishop of Savannah in Georgia. For primary school, Gregory Parkes attended St. Rose of Lima School in Massapequa, New York. Parkes graduated from Massapequa High School and attended Daytona Beach Community College in Daytona, Beach, Florida. He earned a Bachelor of Finance degree from Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, and worked in banking in Tampa for seven years.

Parkes decided to become a priest after attending morning masses and prayers. He studied for the priesthood at St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida. In 1990, Parkes entered the Pontifical North American College and the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he received a Bachelor of Theology degree and a Licentiate in Canon Law in 2000.

Priesthood

On June 26, 1999, Parkes was ordained a priest at Saint James Cathedral in Orland for the Diocese of Orlando by Bishop Norbert Dorsey.

After his 1999 ordination, the diocese assigned Parkes as the parochial vicar of Holy Family Parish in Orlando. He was transferred in 2005 to become the founding pastor of Corpus Christi Parish in Celebration, Florida. That same year, Bishop Thomas Wenski appointed Parkes as chancellor of the diocese. He also became its vicar general in 2009.

Episcopal career

Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee

On March 20, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Parkes as the fifth bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Parkes attended his first Ad Limina meeting with the pope at the Vatican prior to his consecration. Parkes was installed and consecrated on June 5, 2012, at St. Paul's Church in Pensacola, Florida. Archbishop Thomas Wenski was the consecrating prelate. Bishops John Noonan and Felipe Estévez were the co-consecrators.

In May 2016, a group of parents protested the appointment of Reverend Roy C Marien as principal of John Paul II Catholic High School in Tallahassee, Florida. The parents objected to several teen novels authored by Marien that they felt were sexually explicit. In response, Parkes announced his full support for Marien.

Bishop of St. Petersburg

On November 28, 2016, Pope Francis appointed Parkes as bishop of St. Petersburg, succeeding Bishop Robert Lynch. Parkes was installed at the Cathedral of Saint Jude the Apostle in St. Petersburg on January 4, 2017. For his pastoral motto, Parkes chose “To your name give the glory” from Psalm 115, Verse 1 from the Old Testament of the Bible. On November 14, 2018, Parkes was elected treasurer of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).

On October 17, 2018, Parkes and the diocese were named in a sexual abuse lawsuit by Mark Cattell, a Virginia resident. Cattell alleged that, at age nine, he had been abused in 1981 by Reverend Robert D. Huneke from Christ the King Parish in Tampa. In 1980, Huneke had sent a letter to the Bishop of Rockville Centre in New York, saying he had abused a boy named John Salveson years earlier in New York. On August 7, 1981, Salveson, now an adult, had written Bishop William Larkin,then Bishop of St. Petersburg about Huneke. Despite Salveson's complaints, the diocese did not removed Huneke from ministry until 1982.

Parkes attended his second ad lumina visit to the Vatican in 2019. While Francis met with Parkes, the pope noticed Parkes' 6'8" height and asked if he ever played basketball. Parkes started a "View from the Top" podcast, giving an overview of the diocese, and his "Invitation to Worship" podcast, giving a quick overview of the weekly reading.

See also

• Catholic Church hierarchy
• Catholic Church in the United States
• Historical list of the Catholic bishops of the United States
• List of Catholic bishops of the United States
• Lists of patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops

References

1. ^ "Previous Bishops of the Diocese". Catholic Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
2. ^ "Most Reverend Gregory L. Parkes". Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
3. ^ "Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Doran of Rockford, IL, Names Msgr. David Malloy to Succeed Him; Names Father Gregory Parkes of Diocese of Orlando, FL, as Bishop Of Pensacola-Tallahassee, FL". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
4. "Pope meets United States' newest and tallest bishop". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved November 28, 2021.
5. ^ "Bishop Gregory Lawrence Parkes [Catholic-Hierarchy]". www.catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
6. "Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee". GCatholic.org. Retrieved August 17, 2012.
7. Call, James. "Priest's novels upset parents at John Paul II High School". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved February 24, 2024.
8. Harris, Elise (November 28, 2016). "Pope taps Tallahassee bishop to lead St. Petersburg diocese". Catholic News Agency. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
9. Waveney, Ann Moore (October 17, 2018). "Man files suit against Diocese of St. Petersburg saying a Tampa priest sexually abused him in the 1980s". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved November 28, 2021.

External links

• Diocese of Saint Petersburg Official Site

Episcopal succession

• Biography
• Catholicism
• Christianity
• Florida

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg
Bishops	Charles Borromeo McLaughlin William Thomas Larkin John Favalora Robert Nugent Lynch Gregory Parkes
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle Abbey Saint Leo Abbey Parishes Sacred Heart Church, Tampa St. Patrick Church, Tampa
Education	Higher education Saint Leo University High schools Academy of the Holy Names, Tampa Bishop McLaughlin Catholic High School, Hudson Clearwater Central Catholic High School, Clearwater Jesuit High School, Tampa St. Petersburg Catholic High School, St. Petersburg Tampa Catholic High School, Tampa
Priests	Laurence Higgins David Toups
Other	Saint Louis Catholic Cemetery Holy Name Monastery Florida Catholic
Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Pensacola–Tallahassee
Bishops	René Henry Gracida Joseph Keith Symons John M. Smith John Ricard Gregory Parkes William Albert Wack
Churches	Cathedrals Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Pensacola Co-Cathedral of Saint Thomas More, Tallahassee Basilica Basilica of St. Michael the Archangel, Pensacola Parishes St. Joseph's Church, Pensacola Former Sacred Heart Church, Pensacola
Education	High schools John Paul II Catholic High School, Tallahassee Pensacola Catholic High School, Pensacola
Other	Florida Catholic
Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando
Bishops	William Borders Thomas Grady Norbert Dorsey Thomas Wenski John Noonan
Churches	Cathedral St. James Cathedral, Orlando Parishes Basilica of St. Paul, Daytona Beach Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church, Indialantic Shrines Basilica of Mary, Queen of the Universe, Orlando Ste. Anne des Lacs, Lake Wales Former Old Holy Redeemer Church, Kissimmee Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Wales
Education	High schools Bishop Moore High School, Orlando Father Lopez Catholic High School, Daytona Beach Melbourne Central Catholic High School, Melbourne Santa Fe Catholic High School, Lakeland Trinity Catholic High School, Ocala Grade schools Holy Name of Jesus Catholic School
Priests	Gregory Parkes
Other	Florida Catholic
Catholicism portal

• 1964 births
• Living people
• People from Mineola, New York
• Florida State University alumni
• Pontifical North American College alumni
• Pontifical Gregorian University alumni
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando
• 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in the United States
• Roman Catholic bishops of Pensacola–Tallahassee
• Roman Catholic bishops of Saint Petersburg