The Rev. Professor Peter Gomes’ Legacy Honored at Memorial Church
By Jeffrey Blackwell
Creative and Communications Lead
The Memorial Church of Harvard University
The Rev. Professor Peter J. Gomes was the majestic baritone minister of the Memorial Church for nearly 40 years. His sermons from the pulpit, lectures in the classroom, best-selling books, and international speaking engagements also made him one of the most critical spiritual voices against intolerance in America.
His legacy on the Harvard campus and at the Memorial Church is still deeply woven in the minds of colleagues, students, and congregants 13 years after his passing at age 68. On Sunday, Nov. 3, All Saints Sunday, the Church will dedicate a new panel honoring his service on the pulpit synonymous with his name.
“For decades, the Rev. Professor Gomes was the conscience and charisma of the Memorial Church and the wider Harvard community,” said the Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Ph.D. ‘13, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in the Faculty of Divinity and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church. “He truly inspired generations of students and congregants, and it is a humbling honor to preach from the pulpit he graced each week and to serve in the role he made famous.”
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Gomes came to the Memorial Church as an assistant minister in 1970. He became acting minister in 1972 and, in 1974, was named the Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Minister in the Memorial Church. For many years, he was the greeting voice students heard as first-years on the Harvard campus and one of the parting voices they heard at the end of Commencement. In between, he was well known for his high tea parties at Sparks House, a regular mixer for faculty, students, and other Harvard affiliates.
Gomes was also a national figure. He gave the benediction for Ronald Reagan's second inauguration and delivered the sermon at the National Cathedral for George H.W. Bush. And when he announced that he was gay in 1991 at a gay rights rally on campus, he became a powerful voice against intolerance and homophobia. His books, “The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart” (William Morrow, 1996) and “Sermons: Biblical Wisdom for Daily Living” (HarperOne, 1998), were among his five New York Times best-sellers.”
“The Committee had agonized over where we might add a plaque to the quite-filled walls and couldn’t find an ideal spot; Connie Williams came up with a brilliant idea,” said Rossano. “She said rather than trying to add a plaque to the sanctuary's walls, ‘Might we engrave a panel right onto the pulpit?’”
The panel, will be placed at the front of the pulpit. The Church pulpit consists of four oak panels, one inscribed in honor of The Right Reverand Phillips Brooks. The new panel, created by professional woodworker and filmmaker Paul Indelicato, will be placed next to Brooks.
Rossano said the panel is a beautiful tribute the friend, colleague, and minister to many in the Harvard community.
“Everyone who knew Peter knows that while he was erudite, brilliant, thoroughly schooled in theology as in countless other topics, he was — perhaps most of all — fun!” Rossano said. “He would say that preaching was like leading an orchestra, that when he saw that one side of his congregation was beginning to nod off, he’d speak rousingly to them, then to the center, then to the other side, and so on until he felt that everyone was finally listening.”
The installation will also have a special meaning to Jones. He is one of the few current employees who worked with Gomes. He said he first met the Harvard minister in the courtyard of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, England.
“I had little idea of the influence he was to have on my life. Coming to the Memorial Church in the Fall of 1998, Peter was a mentor, colleague, and friend to me,” said Jones. “I still miss his enormous wit, fiery intellect, and effervescent joy. In Professor Gomes, the Harvard University Choir had a tireless supporter whose generous hospitality knew no bounds. The walls of this church still vibrate with that grand, inimitable voice.”
Congressman Seth Moulton (Massachusetts 6th district), AB, Physics; MBA, Harvard Business School; MPA, Harvard Kennedy School, recently spoke about Gomes, his friend and mentor at Morning Prayers.
“He remains the greatest mentor I've ever had in life. But as a practical matter, it all began with simply inspiring me to come to church,” said Moulton. “How did he inspire? Every time I heard him, Peter would enlighten you, motivate you, and make you laugh hilariously, but always challenge you in the process. It is the latter for which I remain most grateful. I came here not out of a feeling of religious obligation but for the simple fact that I felt that what I heard here helped make me a little better person, and I knew enough as an undergraduate to know I could be a better person.”
Photos by Jeffrey Blackwell
1. Cynthia Rosanno and her husband Ken attend Morning Prayers in Appleton Chapel.
2. Professional woodworker and filmmaker Paul Indelicato holds panel dedicated to the Reverend Professor Gomes.
Congressman Seth Moulton remembers the Reverand Professor Gomes in Morning Prayers address