Posted on 03/26/2011 7:07:42 PM PDT by marshmallow
A group of pastors came out today in support of Rev. Michael Pfleger remaining at St. Sabina Catholic Church.
About two dozen ministers met at Josephine's Restaurant on the South Side and urged Cardinal Francis George not to end Pfleger's three decade-long ministry at the Auburn Gresham church.
"While in the Catholic Church there is a tenure of six or 12 years, there are exceptions to that rule," said Tyrone Crider, pastor of Mt. Calvary Baptist Church. "We pray that an exception would be made for an exceptional pastor."
"Father Michael Pfleger has given his life to the people at St. Sabina," said Stephen Thurston, national president of the Baptist Convention of America. "The relationship that Father Mike has to the people at St. Sabina cannot be broken in this most critical period."
Pfleger confirmed last week that the archdiocese has asked him to leave the parish for a new assignment. But it is still unclear if that move will take place or if the archdiocese plans to appoint him president of nearby Leo Catholic High School, as has been reported.
Pfleger attended today's event and listened quietly as the pastors praised him for his community and activist efforts. He declined to comment, saying only that he appreciated the ministers' support.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
I think Cardinal George is a good bishop, but he has the usual problem: an archdiocese that is filled with bad priests put in place by his predecessor. He can’t get rid of all of them because he doesn’t have enough solid priests to take their place.
And Pfleger is an especially difficut case, because he not only has the support of radical blacks, he probably also has the support of the Chicago Mafia.
And if Fr. Pfleger is removed from his parish, most of the blacks will probably leave too. Since it is only nominally Catholic in the first place, it’s hard to say how bad a thing that would be. Are you losing people from the Church, who might find salvation there, or are you letting heretics disperse elsewhere? Or some of both?
Not an easy situation to straighten out.
“Your Holiness, please for the love of God allow Father Freakshow to stay at Saint Sabina so he won’t get his stink on some other poor unsuspecting parish.”
Rubbish. He should clean house. What you are describing is no church at all. This is the type of thing that is destroying Catholicism.
Put him in charge of “development”.
Marxist-Catholic is an oxymoron. He is a disgrace and shouldn’t have the platform of the Catholic Church.
Michael Pfleger is a disgrace to the Catholic religion and Christianity in general. He should have been defrocked years ago. He exibits none of the traits of a priest.
As I'm not a Catholic I hesitate to stick my nose in your business. Then again, I am from Chicago. So...sometimes you just have to put your head down, move forward and trust that things will work out.
Pfleger needs the boot...but good.
Translated: keep a close eye on this priest, and keep him busy with other duties so that he cannot cause problems...
My opinion...
It’s time for Father Pfleger to be moved. Priests don’t need to be setting up little kingdoms in their parishes.
Henry II: “Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?”
If they leave, were they worshiping the man, or Christ?
By their fruits...
Were they being entertained, or is Christ their all?
For the sake of his soul and theirs, superiors, I pray, will serve the faith... not popularity and the world.
Vanity is dangerous, I know.
A months silent retreat under obedience would help.
Gods will be done. I will continue to pray for all involved.
Just to be clear, I wasn’t standing up for Fr. Plfleger, who is a crazy, dissident, disobedient, trouble-making piece of work.
I was just saying that it can be hard for a bishop to come into a diocese like Chicago, which is crammed full of dissident, incompetent, and trouble-making priests inherited from previous bishops who let this thing build.
Like most troubled dioceses, they are short on vocations, and have fewer priests to go around than they ideally should have. If they got rid of all the bad priests, they wouldn’t have many left to say Mass. This is the result of several decades of malign influence from the culture outside the Church and troubled leadership within the Church.
It’s better than the fate of many of the Main Line and other Protestant Churches, which have simply fallen to pieces, lost most of their members, and can scarcely call themselves Christian any longer, because at least the Catholic Church holds on to its teachings, even though many of its bishops and priests fail to observe them as they should.
Probably Pfleger should go. But it’s not easy to straighten out a mess such as Cardinal Law inherited. It will probably take as many years to clean up as it did to make it. And in the meantime, the Cardinal probably has to frequently ask himself such questions as, which is better, a dissident priest who is weak on some points but not completely over the top, or to kick him out and have no one to say Mass in that parish because of the priest shortage?
I asume you are Catholic. As a catholic myself and as a Christian I personally find it impossible to reconcile the vile, despicable words and actions of Michael Pfleger with the Christian religion or the Catholic faith. Having known many priests who are good, caring servants of God and role models for the rest of us Michael Pfleger is none of the above. I cannot even imagine taking communion from this guy much less attending his Mass.
Michael Pfleger is a community activist and agitator. He is in the wrong job he needs to be removed. Keeping him in the priesthood is bad for the Catholic church. Sometimes the garden has to be weeded.
That being said I’m sure you are right about the parish Pfleger is involved with (I hesitate to say “serves”) Chicago is a funky place. My observation about Pfleger is that the place has co-opted him and his faith instead of him having a positive effect on the place.
Yes, I’m Catholic.
And I agree with you about Pfleger. It’s not just a question of how bad he is, but how publicly bad he is, which leads to scandal on a major scale.
The previous Archbishop of Chicago was Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, in office 1982–1996. He was probably the single worst trouble maker in the Catholic Church in America, so it’s no wonder that Cardinal George has inherited a mess.
Crises usually create paradigm shifts. I understand what you are saying, but what the Church needs to do is eliminate those who have not embraced “Catholic Theology”. They certainly can’t keep those who undermine the teachings and expect the Church to continue.
I understand the moral relativism of Postmodern philosophy and how it’s infiltration into the schools and seminaries has undermined all of our society and created a “group-think” brainwashed masses who have swallowed the irrational thinking of political correctness—Cultural Marxism.
It is a problem. But the Church should jump into it feet first and scream the Truth to the congregation. The Truth will eventually get through. The media and the schools are suppressing the Truth—it is intentional—and it is about time the Catholic Church attacks, instead of cowering in the corner wondering how popular culture is going to vilify them next.
That wastes time and allows souls to be seduced into this evil postmodern mindset of nihilism and narcissism. Enough of this pandering to evil in hopes that people will love them because they do not call sin, sin. Catholic Theology is not about popularity contests.
Well it sounds like a mess in Chicago. We are pretty boring and traditional down here in GA. LOL! The thought of our priest jumping around trying to imitate Rev Wright is hard to picure. LOL!
It is truly nutty and crazy for Baptist Ministers and other Protestants to be telling the good Cardinal of Chicago what to do.
I think it is a wise move to relocate the bad priest to a school. It is my belief that there are people there who will keep an eye on the bad priest.
If the bad priest does something wrong, he might be summoned to the Archdiocesan office for some discussion.
Sure it is. He likes radical blacks. Send him to Zimbabwe.
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