Atlanta Archbishop speaks out about multi-million dollar mansion

ATLANTA — Atlanta's Catholic Archbishop is speaking out about building and moving into a $2.2 million Buckhead mansion.
 
He already apologized once this week, saying he failed to consider the impact on struggling families -- and today he elaborated on that apology.
 
Archbishop Wilton Gregory made national news this week for all the wrong reasons. He's now saying sorry for choosing to build and move into a 6,400 square foot Tudor-style Buckhead mansion paid for with money that was donated to the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
 
"I'm disappointed in myself because I've should have seen that this was a matter that was more neuralgic than simply selling a $2 million home and building a $2 million home. And so I'm disappointed in myself. And I don't intend to do that mistake again, namely, not take the opportunity of hearing my people," Gregory said.
 
The construction of the home was made possible after a large donation from the estate of Joseph Mitchell. He's the nephew of Margaret Mitchell, who wrote "Gone With the Wind" and made millions.
 
In his will, it said the archdiocese should use the trust for "general religious and charitable purposes."
 
"I believe that in the distribution of the Mitchell bequest, we honored Joe Mitchell's directions. That is, he wanted a very generous gift to go to his parish, his lifelong parish," Gregory said.
 
Gregory talked about how this affects his legacy.
 
"My concern is now to make sure that this issue doesn't have any lasting effect, negative affect, I hope it has a lasting effect on me. I hope the lasting affect is that I make better use of consultation, listen more, listen more acutely. But the ecclesiastical speculation is worse than Las Vegas," Gregory said.
 
The archbishop said that he wants to consult with several church councils before deciding what he should do.

WSBTV