Gregory Parkes

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.

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.