Archbishop Wilton Gregory is following Pope Francis' lead and switching out his Atlanta mansion for something more modest, according to the Associated Press.
Francis permanently removed a German bishop of the Limburg diocese on Wednesday after his 31 million-euro ($43-million) new residence complex caused an uproar, according to USA TODAY.
Gregory's $2 million estate in the Buckhead, a ritzy neighborhood in north Atlanta, is far from what Monsignor Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst spent on his residence but local Catholics still thought the pricetag was too high.
Especially in the age of Francis, he agreed.
"I failed to consider the impact on the families throughout the archdiocese who, though struggling to pay their mortgages, utilities, tuition and other bills, faithfully respond year after year to my pleas to assist with funding our ministries and services," Gregory wrote late Monday on the website of the archdiocesan newspaper.
Gregory's new residence was made possible by a $15 million gift from the nephew of Margaret Mitchell, the author of the Civil War epic "Gone With The Wind." When Joseph Mitchell died in 2011, he left much of his estate to the archdiocese, asking that the proceeds be used for "general religious and charitable purposes."
It included:
• A second-story safe room. Design documents showed it was to be protected by two steel doors and furnished with a cot, though some building plans changed during the project. It was unclear why such protection was needed; Architects planned a separate storm room in the lower level.
• An eight-burner kitchen stove. Gregory's spokeswoman said that stove is for catering meals.
• An elevator and public and private offices;
• Two dining rooms, including a grand dining room that design plans had exiting out through French-style doors into a courtyard;
• A walk-in closet for liturgical vestments.
He wasn't the only member of the church facing criticism.
Parichoners withheld donations after Newark, N.J. Archbishop John Myers planned to spend at least $500,000 to expand his retirement home, adding an indoor therapy pool, fireplaces and an office library, according to The Associated Press.
"More people are thinking about it, how to tone it down as far as their living arrangements," Russell Shaw, a former spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a Catholic writer, told the Associated Press.
