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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.”
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. 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.”
Cynthia Rossano was Gomes’ editor for 35 years and is a long-time congregant of the Memorial Church. Working with a small committee of volunteers, she researched the best way to remember and honor their long-time friend and minister.
The panel, will be placed at the front of the pulpit. Rossano said it is a beautiful tribute to 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.”
