There have been quite a few stories about Bishop Gumbleton over the past couple of weeks – his revelation that he had been abused by a priest as a boy, and then the confusion relating to his resignation. Bishop Gumbleton is 76, and should have turned in his resignation when he was 75. It is pro forma, and not always accepted immediately anyway. In fact, it usually isn’t.

Here is the Bishop’s letter from a few days ago giving his side of the story.

Well, not really, since he doesn’t detail why he didn’t turn in his resignation.

Here’s a story about the parish in which he resides and is pastor:

His pacifist preaching and outreach propels him to the world’s hotspots, but Bishop Thomas Gumbleton most always makes it back for Sunday mass at St. Leo Catholic Church in a rundown, desolate neighborhood just northwest of downtown Detroit.

The 11 a.m. Sunday mass draws a diverse crowd, who come from nearby and as far away as Farmington Hills and Ann Arbor. On Sunday, they applauded when Gumbleton pledged to keep his activist ministry alive, even though he announced last week his official retirement as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

"I intend to be here as long as God allows me," Gumbleton, pastor of St. Leo’s since 1983, said to 200 parishioners as they applauded.

Well, he finally turned in the resignation and it was accepted, the Vatican announced today.