Does the IRS know about this? [Father Pfleger]

American Thinker ^ | 06/04/08 | Thomas Lifson

[coffee260]

Father Pfleger may be in trouble with more than his church superiors. An eagle-eyed AT reader who must remain anonymous found that his church itself, St. Sabina, has made political donations.

If you go to this Illinois campaign contributions reporting site and type in "St Sabina" under Last or only name. You get

St Sabina Church	$100.00	Individual Contribution
1210 W 78th Pl	9/18/1995	Friends Of Coy Pugh
Chicago, IL 60620
St Sabina Church	$150.00	Individual Contribution
1210 W 78th Pl	2/16/1996	Friends Of Coy Pugh
Chicago, IL 60620
St Sabina Outreach Ministry	$2,500.00	Individual Contribution
1210 W. 78th Pl.	10/14/2004	17th Ward Democratic Organization
Chicago, IL 60620

Coy Pugh is a former Democrat Illinois House member who served from 1993 to 2001.

If you type in "St. Sabina" with a period, you get

St. Sabina	$200.00	Individual Contribution
1210 West 78th Pl.	11/7/2001	Citizens to Elect Latasha R Thomas
Chicago, IL 60620
St. Sabina	$875.00	Individual Contribution
1210 W. 78th	6/14/2003	17th Ward Democratic Organization
Chicago, IL 60620
St. Sabina	$1,500.00	Individual Contribution
1210 W. 78th	5/26/2004	17th Ward Democratic Organization
Chicago, IL 60620

Latasha Thomas is a Chicago Alderman reperesenting the 17th ward.

And then if you type in Pfleger, you get a large response.

Pfleger's federal contributions are reported at this site.  

The Church's contributions would seem to violate the Catholic Church's status as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

[pnh102]

The IRS couldn't give 2 flying you-know-whats about this sort of thing. They only go after conservative-leaning religious institutions for any form of tax fraud.

[MinuteGal]

You can tip off the IRS anonymously and I urge you to do so.

On the other hand, if you want to give your name, I'm sure you'll get a tipsters' reward of 10% (as in "tithing").

Good luck. I'll write you in Sing Sing for ratting out a holy man.

[GOPJ]

double standard bump

[Hegemony Cricket]

Prolly right about that. Worst case, these political type folk will be made to refund the improper donations, and “St. Sabina” will get a stern form letter from the IRS, then the whole thing will disappear down the memory hole.

However, if your average Baptist church had a pitch-in dinner, and two people got into a friendly discussion about the pros/cons of voting for John McCain, that church may well lose its tax exempt status, and somebody may be facing jail time...

[PGalt]

Good luck. I'll write you in Sing Sing for ratting out a holy man.

LOL! Very funny!

[Vigilanteman]

At minimum, you would think the local bishop would be reaming him out for misuse of church funds.

[Piquaboy]

Rats get away with this all the time. You make one mistake on your tax return and the IRS will be on you like stink on chit.

[notaliberal]

Catholics never get a free ride, especially on this forum!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Good. Sick the pflicking IRS on Pfleger.

[right turn at the light]

IIRC, Pfleger is a Jesuit, not a Catholic

[trisham]

Jesuits are Catholics.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

They only go after conservative-leaning religious institutions for any form of tax fraud.

Too bad the ACLU won't pursue this...

[right turn at the light]

not anymore

[trisham]

Jesuits are an order of priests within the Catholic church. Pope Benedict seems to believe they are Catholic:

http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2008/february/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20080221_gesuiti_en.html

[right turn at the light]

I attended Loyola when the Jesuits still took Christianity seriously (40 years ago), Pope John Paul II threw the Jesuits out of the Vatican in 1994, this is from Catholic.net, 1994:

John Paul’s dissatisfaction with some of the church’s traditional priestly operatives - like the Jesuits, whom he perceived until recently as becoming too liberal - has led him to encourage lay Catholic movements such as Opus Dei. (Papal spokesman Navarro is a member.) He has declared this controversial organization a personal prelature, which means that it is exempt from the jurisdiction of local bishops and reports directly to Rome. The Pope has also given warm encouragement to a new religious order, the Legionaries of Christ, which some conservatives see as a replacement for the Jesuits of old. Members are in training for up to 14 years (even longer than Jesuits) and have proved themselves to be more personally committed to supporting the papacy. With more than 300 priests and nearly 3,000 more in training, the Legionaries are on track to become a major force in the Catholic Church.”

My grandson attended Loyola (Chicago) recently, most signs of Christianity have been removed at the Lake Shore Campus.

[trisham]

He may have been unhappy with them in 1994, but it seems that there has been a reconciliation. He subsequently canonized a Jesuit, Saint José María Rubio y Peralta, in May 2003.

[pnh102]

Too bad the ACLU won't pursue this...

The same ACLU that was founded by commies? Of course not!