Gregory, Edward Meeks, 1922-1995

The Reverend Edward Meeks "Pope" Gregory (1922-1995) was a humanitarian who fought racism and advocated racial and sexual equality long before they were widely accepted in Richmond, Virginia. Gregory is also recognized for holding the first gay marriage ceremony in Virginia, in August 1978, on the lawn of St. Peter's Church in Richmond. Gregory, a Richmond native, attended St. Christopher's School and graduated from the University of Virginia (UVA) in 1947 with a bachelor's degree in English. He later did graduate work in English at both the University of Virginia and George Washington University. Gregory received a master of divinity degree in 1954 from Episcopal Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a doctor of ministry degree from the University of the South in 1977. In 1955, Gregory was ordained a priest and served at St. Mark's Church in Richmond, as well as a youth adviser for the diocese the following year. In 1969, he was appointed vicar of St. Peter's, a mission on Church Hill. In break with tradition, Gregory gathered his parishioners around a carved, round altar for his services there. During the 1970s, when women were forcefully making their way into a previously all-male Episcopal priesthood, he invited an illegally ordained woman to celebrate Communion with him. Gregory served St. Peter's until 1979 when he left Richmond to become chaplain and teacher of English and Social Studies at rural Christ Church School, an Episcopal academy in Middlesex County. In 1990, he retired and returned to Richmond. Gregory served as president of the Richmond-Petersburg Council on Human Relations and the Richmond Area Council on Human Relations. He helped to start the Daily Planet, which serves the homeless, and was also the advisor to Dignity/Integrity, a national organization with local chapters to homosexuals sponsored by his diocese and the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. Gregory died Wednesday, January 25, 1995, in a local hospital after a brief illness. He is buried in Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery. At Gregory's request his memorial stone bears the Latin inscription, "Pontificeamus," in English, "Let us build bridges," the mission of his ministry and life.