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"We are, perhaps, at a moment when, with the grace of God, all races are safely within the American consensus," the cardinal continued. "We are not at the point, however, when Catholics, especially in public life, can be considered full partners in the American experience unless they are willing to put aside some fundamental Catholic teachings on a just moral and political order."

Cardinal George Corrects the Catholic Vote Debate Posted on September 06, 2008, 9:12 AM | Deal W. Hudson The most important statement from a Catholic bishop of the present political season was published a few days ago by Francis Cardinal George of Chicago. In essence, Cardinal George stated it was a violation of Catholic teaching to evoke the common good in politics without advocating legal protection of yet-to-be-born children. Several "Catholic" political organizations (Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good and Catholics United) have come into existence since 2004 using the "common good" as their guiding principle. Here is what...

Pelosi, By George Another day, another dollar, another ecclesial ripple Nancy Pelosi hath wrought. Nine days after two leading USCCB chairmen took on the House Speaker's Meet the Press debacle in the name of the entire conference, the bench's president -- Cardinal Francis George OMI of Chicago (shown above with You Know Who) -- made his first public intervention earlier today with the following letter to his hometown church: Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, In the midst of a lengthy political campaign, matters of public policy that are also moral issues sometimes are misrepresented or are presented in a...

Defiant St. Sabina parishioners demanded Cardinal Francis George reinstate their controversial pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, just hours after he was removed Tuesday from his post against his wishes. "We respectfully request the cardinal immediately reinstate Father Pfleger as full pastor of St. Sabina," Gerald Stewart, president of the parish council, told an estimated 2,000 people packed into the South Side church Tuesday evening. The group included longtime Pfleger friend the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has been blasted for his own controversial statements on race. Stewart said parishioners wanted an immediate meeting with the cardinal to discuss "the future of...

Rather surprising. I did not expect so strong a stand from the Catholic church. CBS 2 News has learned that Francis Cardinal George is temporarily removing Father Michael Pfleger from his position as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side. The other racists in his congregation are outraged.

Apparently the Chicago diocese has had enough of Michael Pfleger, at least for now. The cardinal has suspended the controversial priest who called America the “greatest sin against God”, and who mocked Hillary Clinton from the pulpit last week: CBS 2 News has learned that Francis Cardinal George is temporarily removing Father Michael Pfleger from his position as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago’s South Side. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the move comes after several days of deliberation and consultation by the Cardinal, who first learned about Pfleger’s racially charged comments about Sen. Barack...

The controversy has not subsided and Cardinal George has now expanded his pastoral oversight and care of his priest. He has asked Father Pfleger to step down from his pastorate for a two week leave. The directive, like the last one, was made public by the Cardinal’s office. The priest was not supportive of the request: “To put recent events in some perspective, I have asked Father Michael Pfleger, Pastor of St. Sabina’s Parish, to step back from his obligations there and take leave for a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties, effective today. Fr. Pfleger does not believe...

Cardinal Removes Rev. Pfleger From St. Sabina Last Edited: Tuesday, 03 Jun 2008, 3:48 PM CDT Created: Tuesday, 03 Jun 2008, 3:39 PM CDT The firebrand pastor of St. Sabina parish was effectively removed from his duties there Tuesday, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of Chicago. In the statement, Cardinal Francis George says he asked the Rev. Michael Pfleger, 59, to “take leave for a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties.” The statement said Pfleger “does not believe this to be the right step at this time.” “While respecting his disagreement, I have nevertheless asked him...

Cardinal George gets what Barack Obama only understood under pressure: The firebrand pastor of St. Sabina parish was removed from his duties there Tuesday, according to a statement released by the Archdiocese of Chicago.In the statement, Cardinal Francis George says he asked the Rev. Michael Pfleger, 59, to "take leave for a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties." The statement said Pfleger "does not believe this to be the right step at this time." "While respecting his disagreement, I have nevertheless asked him to use this opportunity to reflect on his recent statements and actions in the light of...

CBS 2 News has learned that Francis Cardinal George is temporarily removing Father Michael Pfleger from his position as pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church on Chicago's South Side. CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports the move comes after several days of deliberation and consultation by the Cardinal, who first learned about Pfleger's racially charged comments about Sen. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of Trinity Unity Church of Christ last Thursday night. The Cardinal immediately contacted Pfleger who agreed not to refer to the presidential candidates by name, but as CBS 2 reported at the...

EXCLUSIVE | Contrite Father Mike regrets Hillary 'dramatization,' pain he's inflicted on his church On Sunday morning, I was enjoying a brisk walk along the Hudson River in lower Manhattan and some quiet contemplation when my cell phone rang. It was my editor. "Mike just called, and he wants to talk, but he'll only talk to you," he said. Mike, as in the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the perpetually embattled pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in Chicago, who most recently has been under siege from comments he made about Hillary Clinton a week ago from the pulpit of Trinity...

Cardinal Francis George has long opposed politics at the communion rail. But Sunday's anti-war protest at the start of his Easter homily spotlighted a frustrated faction in the Roman Catholic Church who believe committed Catholics must do more than preach and pray for peace. Chicago police charged six protesters Sunday with felony criminal defacement of property and two counts of simple battery for spattering parishioners' clothes with stage blood. Five of the protesters are being held in lieu of $25,000 bail. The sixth, who served time in prison for illegally entering a U.S. military installation, received $35,000 bail. Gerard Powers...

As they listened to the gospel during mass Sunday, few parishioners at Holy Name parish could have imagined the bloodshed about to taint both the holiday service and their Easter finery. Six protesters disrupted the beginning of Cardinal Francis George's homily to shout their opposition to the Iraq war. The demonstrators, who call themselves "Catholic Schoolgirls Against the War" despite their male and female membership, squirted fake blood on themselves and nearby worshipers as security guards tried to usher them from the parish's auditorium, where mass is being said during repairs of the cathedral in downtown Chicago. The syrupy red...

When I was ordained a bishop on the feast of St. Matthew, September 21, 1990, I chose as my motto: To Christ be Glory in the Church. It appears in Latin on my coat of arms. Episcopal mottoes are phrases that indicate a bishop's mind and heart, that give an indication of his pastoral priorities. My motto says that I believe the Church exists, first of all and above all, to glorify Christ, to make his grace visible to the world in the Church's ministries and mission. If people look at the Church and see Jesus Christ, then everything else...

Jan. 21, 2007 Last year, the mostly lay Archdiocesan Pastoral Council asked the Presbyteral Council to consider how the homily at Mass might be used to deepen lay people’s understanding of some contested mysteries of faith. The request arose during a discussion on what it means to be Catholic. Many of the more external signs of Catholicism, the practices people associated with life in the Church, were abandoned thirty or more years ago. The disappearance of external protections left the internal life of faith exposed to error and confusion. The priests took the time to clarify with representatives of the...

Cardinal Francis George believes he knows why much of the world distrusts Americans. It's not because of our freedom or wealth, Chicago's Roman Catholic archbishop says. It's because often we neither comprehend nor wish to comprehend the perspectives and plights of others. In his homily Sunday during a service at Catholic Theological Union, a graduate school of theology in Hyde Park, George, 69, recalled his experiences visiting some of the poorest corners of the globe when he was the vicar general of his religious order, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate. "I found as I went around that no matter...

Looking rested after a week in Rome, Cardinal Francis George said Sunday that he had a surprise meeting with Pope Benedict XVI and that he prayed for an ex-pastor who was accused of stealing nearly $200,000 while the cardinal was away. On his second day in Rome, as planned, George attended the canonization of Mother Theodore Guerin of Indiana, the first U.S. saint in six years. What wasn't planned, he said, was an invitation that day to concelebrate mass with the pope. In a concelebration, several priests say mass together. "I hadn't expected that, and I was very pleased to...

The following statement was released this morning by the archdiocese of Chicago: Cardinal Francis George returned to the operating room just before midnight last night for an exploratory surgery. The Cardinal had exhibited an unstable blood pressure and a drop in blood count despite having received blood transfusions. These conditions were discussed with the Cardinal and a decision was made to return to the operating room. In a two-hour procedure, Dr. Robert Flanigan, assisted by Dr. Fred Luchette, Chief of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at Loyola, found a small blood vessel in the pelvis that was bleeding. The...

Pope Benedict XVI may try to "save eros," in the first encyclical of his papacy, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George told the Chicago Sun-Times. George expects the new pope will try to explain that erotic love, eros, and unconditional love, agape, are both inherently good in God's eyes in his encyclical titled "Deus, Caritas Est," Latin for "God is Love." An encyclical is a pope's most authoritative document, a pastoral letter circulated to the universal church. Letter talks about Christ The cardinal has not yet seen Benedict XVI's encyclical, which is expected to be released by the Vatican within days, but...

Gay priest ruling adds fuel to fire Vatican document stands out more as pope's first than for whom it bans By Margaret Ramirez and Manya A. Brachear, Tribune staff reporters. Tribune news services contributed to this report Published November 30, 2005 The Vatican issued a long-awaited document Tuesday on the explosive issue of homosexuality in the priesthood, but the document banning men with "deep-seated homosexual tendencies" added more heat than light to the controversy. In fact, several scholars said that the text of the document--which largely restates long-standing Roman Catholic teaching on homosexuality--matters less than its timing and prominence. It...

Supporting the Priesthood, God’s Gift to His Eucharistic Community United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Presidential Address - Bishop William S. Skylstad, Bishop of SpokaneWashington D.C. – November 14, 2005 My Dear Brother Bishops, Once again, we in solidarity and fraternity gather in plenary session to carry on the work and mission of the Church.  I begin with a word of heartfelt thanks to you for the opportunity you gave me last November to serve as your president of our episcopal conference.  Though the responsibilities of the president are indeed daunting, especially when they are added to the ministry of...

So what happened? On September 15, 2004, I attended a student activities fair at the Loop Campus of DePaul University. I noticed a group there called Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), and I saw they had some literature. On the front of one of the brochures was a picture of Rachel Corey, the American who had been accidentally killed by an Israeli bulldozer. The literature, however, had her murdered by the Israelis; it also included many other incendiary and anti-Israeli remarks. As I was reading the pamphlet, I asked the students, “Did you know that in addition to the...

By naming Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano as his secretary of state, the pope filled an urgent need with a known commodity. At age 77, Sodano--considered a papal candidate by some--is not likely to hold the job much longer, or institute major changes in the diplomatic stance of the church. While the pope stayed mostly behind closed doors, emerging only briefly to visit his old apartment and greet crowds that happened upon him, attention focused on the one post he must find somebody new to fill--the powerful role as chief guardian of the church's teachings. Speculation has centered on several cardinals...

CHICAGO - The biblical story of Mary and Joseph being turned away at the Inn was given a modern-day twist during the Midnight Mass sermon at Holy Name Cathedral.More than 12-hundred people filled Holy Name Cathedral, and hundreds of thousands more watched on television, as Francis Cardinal George celebrated Midnight Mass.While Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Lyne offered a prayer for the safety of "our armed forces who are so far away from home this Christmas night," Cardinal George focused on the plight of undocumented immigrants.In his sermon, Cardinal George said hundreds of undocumented aliens were among the immigrants who filled the...

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago - The Pope’ s Retreat Master. "While Bishop of Yakima, Archbishop George joined Seattle Archbishop Thomas Murphy and Spokane Bishop William Skylstad in opposing an anti-gay rights initiative that they felt was punitive [to sodomite couples]." May 2, 1997 Chicago Archdiocesan newspaper. Cardinal Francis George of Chicago who heads one of the largest archdioceses in the United States, responsible for providing a large portion of funds needed to run the Vatican, was found to be sharing his residence with a priest who, before becoming a priest, abused a boy. According to a February 28, 2003...

In the Catholic Byzantine rite, immediately before the priest consecrates the offering, the deacon proclaims, "The doors, the doors! Let us attend in wisdom!" With those words, the doors of the iconostasis are shut. The closing of the doors not only transforms the altar area into an image of Mary’s virginal womb, so that the presence of Jesus might enter into the Bride of the Christ as He did two millenia ago, it also serves a rather practical purpose. It keeps the riff-raff out.

We are happy to announce that the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., will speak at the 10am mass this Sunday, June 20th. Rev. Jesse Jackson will speak at the 10am mass this Sunday (June 20th) at St. Gertrude. He will reflect on the day's lessons for about 1/2 hour after communion, around 10:45am. Since the 10am mass will run a little longer than usual, we hope this reminder will help ease the flow between the end of the one mass and beginning of the other. Mark Loveless, who participates at the gym mass and also at Operation Push, has been negotiating...

Code: ZE04061023 Date: 2004-06-10 U.S. Cardinal: Lay Ministers Should Be in Sync With Church CHICAGO, JUNE 10, 2004 (Zenit.org).- Catholic lay ministers who disagree with the Church's teachings should not be allowed to assist in distributing Communion, according to a letter reportedly sent by Cardinal Francis George to pastors in his archdiocese. "If a minister should manifest his/her disagreement with Church teaching, he/she should not continue in active ministry until such time that the minister is reconciled to the Church's teaching," wrote Cardinal George, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Though this has been the policy of the archdiocese all along,...

Cardinal says no communion for gay protesters Sunday May 25, 2004 BY ART GOLAB Staff Reporter Gay Catholics who plan to identify themselves by wearing a rainbow sash in church Sunday should be denied communion, according to a memo Cardinal Francis George has written to all pastors in the Archdiocese of Chicago. The wearing of the sash is sponsored by the Rainbow Sash Movement, which has several chapters across the country and plans to show up Sunday at Holy Name Cathedral.

Pro-abortion/gay rights Catholic Senator Durbin highlighted for "keeping the faith" media-hypocrite style...   Last week in Washington, Sen. Dick Durbin once again found himself at odds with the Roman Catholic Church. After an emotional debate on the Senate floor, the Illinois Democrat voted against a bill that made harming an unborn child a federal crime. He then flew to Chicago, where despite a packed schedule he made it to Sunday mass at Old St. Patrick's Church in the West Loop. "You can't have me until after mass on Sunday," the senator said in an interview last week in his...

I just got back from a Fireside Chat at my University Catholic Center somewhere in the archdiocese of Chicago. I thought I would share with any interested Freepers (Catholic Caucus especially), what his grace had to say and what the overall tone was. It started out innocently enough with the Cardinal debunking the DaVinci Code and putting it in its proper perspective as a work of fiction. He seemed surprised that it has created so much furor, afterall, it is a work of fiction, though certainly he aknowledges, the enemies of the Church and Christianity at large have attached themselves...

Versailles, Oct. 14 (CWNews.com) Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has given his clear support for the use of the Tridentine-rite liturgy. In a preface written for a collection produced by the International Committee for Liturgical Studies (CIEL), Cardinal George has referred to the Missal of St. Pius V as "a precious source of liturgical understanding for all other rites," and said that the pre-conciliar liturgy should be "better accepted." The work by CIEL, a Versailles-based organization faithful to the traditional liturgy, was published in France. Several months after Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos celebrated a Tridentine-rite Mass at the Roman basilica...

News Flash: Al Sharpton Not a Catholic Priest! Release of Sharpton Advertisement Meant to Clear Up Confusion, Says American Life League WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Today, the Crusade for the Defense of our Catholic Church, a project of American Life League, unveiled its newest public service ad. "Al Sharpton is NOT a Catholic Priest" is part of an ongoing effort to bring attention to recent abuse of the Catholic Church's longstanding pro-life position created by pastors sharing their pulpits with openly pro-abortion public figures. The full-page advertisement appears in today's Washington Times. It will also run in The...

Cardinal Francis George believes anxiety over false accusations of sexual abuse against Cardinal Joseph Bernardin hastened his death from pancreatic cancer in 1996. "I think it killed him," George said in an interview Thursday. "Cancer is a psychosomatic disorder very often. Would he have died as quickly as he did if he had not gone through that terrible ordeal? I don't know. Others have suggested that might be the case." In November 1993, Steven Cook, a 34-year-old from Philadelphia, filed a lawsuit against Bernardin claiming the cardinal and another priest had sexually abused him in the 1970s while Cook was...

On February 26, 2001 RCF sent the following to Cardinal George of Chicago. Your Eminence, I recently received a letter from a Mr. Matt Abbott regarding his Feb. 24, 2001 conversation with you at St. Rita High School during Parish Leadership Day. According to Mr. Abbott: ‘..he [Cardinal George] doesn’t like the fact that you make accusations with no evidence to back them up. He used the [Bishop] Ryan case as an example: He claims that there as no evidence of wrongdoing, other than Ryan’s “imprudent” association with certain individuals’ Surely Mr. Abbott misunderstood your comments, to assume otherwise would...

The head of the US episcopal conference Wilton Daniel Gregory said there was an ongoing struggle within the Catholic Church to ensure that the priesthood is not "dominated by homosexual men". Gregory and Chicago Archbishop, Cardinal Francis George, told reporters that the issue of homosexual priests had been discussed in a solemn morning meeting between Pope John Paul II and US cardinals on the issue of paedophile priests. "It is an ongoing struggle. It is most importantly a struggle to make sure that the Catholic priesthood is not dominated by homosexual men," Gregory told a news conference after the...