Parish Priest
Father John Luke Gregory ofm was born on June 18th, 1958 in Sheffield, England. Before starting University he took an Applied Social Science course at the London Polytechnic. In 1980 he graduated in Philosophy and Theology from Kings College London, simultaneously being awarded a diploma in Classical Studies.
In 1990 he entered the Order of Friars Minor as a postulant in Rome. He completed his novitiate in Jerusalem, in the church of St. John the Baptist and for a time lived in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. He was a seminarian for four years in the monastery of St. Saviour in Jerusalem, graduating with a degree in Sacred Theology from the Studium Biblicum in Jerusalem, a branch of the Pontifical Antonianum in Rome. In 1998 he was ordained a priest and after 6 months he was made Knight of the Holy Sepulchre where for several years he had been Cantor. The ceremony took place in St. George’s Cathedral in London.
From 1998 to 2004 he worked in the Secretariat of the Custody of the Holy Land, using his knowledge of English, Italian, French, Spanish and Arabic.
In 2004 he was appointed to Rhodes as Guardian and Parish Priest by the Custos of the Holy Land. He was named Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Rhodes by His Grace the Archbishop of Athens. He has since added Greek to his working languages.
