Father Pfleger: Ousted from the Rectory, Looking for a New Place

The last time Mike Pfleger searched the classifieds for an apartment, he was a 20-something-year-old seminarian who hadn't yet taken a vow to obey his bishop.

This morning, Pfleger, the 59-year-old pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church, plans to move out of the rectory he has called home for 33 years and into an apartment in the surrounding Auburn-Gresham neighborhood.

He's not sure when and if he'll return.

That, Pfleger says, is up to Cardinal Francis George, who on Tuesday ordered the oft-disobedient priest to take a temporary leave -- a kind of ecclesiastical timeout -- to think about what he'd done.

What Pfleger did was mouth off about Hillary Clinton, lampooning her public tears on the campaign trail and accusing her (and a lot of other white folks) of demonstrating "white entitlement" in the face of the success of her younger, less-experienced black opponent, Barack Obama, during a lengthy sermon on racism at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, where, until last weekend, Obama and his family were members.

George is calling it a leave of a "couple of weeks" and has called in a priest from neighboring St. Kilian parish to serve as a "temporary administrator" of St. Sabina in Pfleger's absence. George telephoned Pfleger Monday night and asked him to take a sabbatical for a month or so. When Pfleger balked, the cardinal, who has long talked of moving Pfleger from St. Sabina where he'd overstayed the archdiocese's term limit for parish priests by years and years, told him to sleep on it, Pfleger said.

On Tuesday morning, the cardinal called him at St. Sabina to tell him he thought he should take a leave of absence. Pfleger said no, the cardinal said he'd be forced to act, and by late afternoon, George had issued a statement saying, despite Pfleger's protestations, he was going on leave, effective immediately.

"I asked the cardinal if I could stay in the rectory during this time and he said no," Pfleger said late Tuesday night, after his parishioners held a prayer service and rally demanding their pastor's immediate and full return to the parish, as well as a meeting with George to discuss Pfleger's future and the future of the unique African-American parish he's been instrumental in shaping over the last three decades.

"I'm going to buy a bed and get some furniture from the church basement and move into an apartment in the neighborhood," a deflated-sounding Pfleger told me, while the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ where Pfleger made the fiery statements late last month that got him into this latest donnybrook with the cardinal, waited to take him to a late dinner. "I'm trying to find out what [George] means by 'a couple of weeks.' There's no timeline. There's no date. Give me a time. It just says a couple of weeks. I don't know..."

There's something painfully ironic about Pfleger's (if temporary) ouster.

He's been thumbing his nose at authority -- secular and sacred -- for years in pursuit of what he believes God has called him to do: fight for the poor and the oppressed; battle injustice in whatever form it appears, be it racism, sexism, or classism; and to above all present the God of revolutionary love and radical grace to the world around him. That sometimes has meant disobeying civil and canon law.

Pfleger has been arrested several dozen times over the years for civil disobedience. He's taken on drug dealers, big alcohol companies, the tobacco industry, Jerry Springer, the gun lobby, and gun-toting gang-bangers from his own back yard. He's also run afoul of three archbishops of Chicago, beginning with Cardinal John Cody, who ordained him in 1975, and who threatened to can him in 1981 when Pfleger adopted the first of his two now-grown sons.

After three decades of clashes with authority, Pfleger's tipping point arrived in a three-minute video clip from a powerful, 47-minute-long sermon on race. In those few moments, Pfleger, who is white, made snarky comments about Clinton, who is white, that many people -- the archdiocese has been inundated with complaints since last week -- thought were racist or sexist or both.

He apologized, but it was too late.

So on the day that Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president -- the first African American to do so in the history of our nation -- Pfleger, a man who has spent his life fighting for that kind of racial justice, is looking for a place to live.

Pfleger told me he plans to take his dog, Imani, whose name is an African word for "faith," with him. For company, and, perhaps, as a reminder of what sustains him in good times and in bad.

Related:
Read more from Huffington Post bloggers on Barack Obama clinching the Democratic nomination for president

Cathleen Falsani is the award-winning religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and author of the critically acclaimed book The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People. She is also author of the memoir Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace, which will be released in August, and of the forthcoming The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers, due in stores April 2009.

To read a lengthy profile of Father Pfleger from January 2001, click here.

For a time line of Pfleger's career in the Catholic Church, click here.

Comments

[MrZrule]

A couple of weeks is not eternity.

I think Rev. Mike got a little carried away. Some time for him to get over himself would be valuable to his ministry.

You've got to have ego to preach. You've got to have humility so personality doesn't obscure the message.

He can use some peace and quiet so God can communicate what to do next - which could be to just keep on keepin on. He's been a righteous firebrand for more than thirty years and valuable to both the community and the church. He'd have been canned long ago if that were not true.

[Seven7s]

So basically molesting young boys simply gets you transfered. But making political statements that make white people mad gets you removed?

Considering all he has done to help the black community and take on problems head on, the actions of his church kind of help to prove his point about white hypocracy.

At best it's another example of how hypocritical religion is period.

[Rock81]

Exactly!

[MsLiz]

The American Roman Catholic Church is not the only religion on the planet. Don't blame the Buddhists and Episcopalians for what you hold the Catholics responsible for.

[PuppaX]

Great point!

[Mavin1620]

Father Pfleger should come to Seattle. Our faithful band of radical protestant ministers needs a Priest.

[mspost]

God tells us to forgive, and if we can not forgive our brother, he will not forgive us! Two wrongs do not make a right. I pray that the father will be okay.

[IslandGyal]

Please let us know where we can send a financial contribution to Father Pfleger, since his future financial situation is uncertain.

[NikkiDarling]

He's a truth teller and a man of honor and principle.....obviously someone who must be punished for stating the truth...what a sad pathetic country we have become.

[PuppaX]

What did he do wrong? He pointed out the same entitlement we all saw on Tuesday night?

[realpolitic]

I am sure Father Pfleger has done a lot of wonderful work in the community and adopting and raising two sons is really doing God's work, but he did put on a minstrel show there at the Trinity UCC. I doubt that Rev. King would have ever talked to his own people in that demonstrative, flamboyant way. Father Pfleger should learn to set an example by the way he talks and preaches, in addition to his inspiring community involvment.

[mindact]

Let's face it, this is a man who by the share notion of his willingness to serve in a black parish and his willingness to adopt a black son, he's extended family rejected him. He's seen racism from the inside out. So when he sees Hillary's behavior over the course of the primary, based on his personal experiences, he draws a parallel. We really can't blame him for that. Granted, it wasn't the most politically astute thing to say, but quite frankly, there's a lot of evidence to suggest that what he said may not be far from te truth. Case in point Geraldine Ferraro and other racially tinged utterances from Bill and Hillary.

In a nutshell, this is a man that has dedicated his life to active ministry and service. He's still kept his vow of celibacy and poverty. He's leaving the parish looking for a place to buy a bed and a room to rent. the least the church should do is rent a place for him. Yes he mouthed off at church, but he did apoligize. Let's not forget that more outrageous stuff have happened within the preisthood and the church has kept them on. Point is St Sabinas is a church the Father built and pushing him out could lead to the death of the church

[lalivia08]

Frankly if I had a pastor as moving and vibrant all the years that I attended catholic mass perhaps my grandmother wouldn't have had to constantly knuckle me in the side to wake me up. Whatever happens I believe the people that The good Father has fought for all these years will stand by him. By the way for the record I think the only white people who get offended at the idea of white entitlement are the ones who take every advantage of it. I am white and I know it exists, as a matter of fact I experience it alot especially before people find out that I have two beautiful biracial children. You would not believe the difference in attitudes I experience.

[maddie0001]

He's been thumbing his nose at authority -- secular and sacred -- for years in pursuit of what he believes God has called him to do: fight for the poor and the oppressed; battle injustice in whatever form it appears, be it racism, sexism, or classism; and to above all present the God of revolutionary love and radical grace to the world around him. That sometimes has meant disobeying civil and canon law.

That's what Jesus did and you know how that ended.

[PKSSK]

I think this story speaks volumes about the Corporate Catholic Church and how accused pedophile priests are merely moved from parish to parish, while a priest who stands and fights against poverty and injustice is asked to leave for expressing an opinion on racism, while using a popular political candidate as an example. I guess this whole situation explains why so many are leaving the Catholic Church and structured religion in general.

[egal]

It's not surprising, in the political atmosphere Clinton has tried so hard to foster, that a man loses his position for pointing out the racism and injustices that go all the way to the top.

It is ironic, though, that being honest about the deep racism in so many white Americans--one that Clinton has epitomized in her own apparent ignorance of how demeaning she is being--is what gets him kicked out when Clinton insists racism isn't a huge problem. Apparently, it's being accused of racism that a blind man could see that is considered unacceptable, not being flagrantly racist.

[AndrewInToronto]

Yes, it is a testament that those who have themselves engaged in a bigoted campaign cannot endure being called upon it that Father Pfleger is now suffering. I watched his sermon and was impressed by it. Does anyone not recall the routing of the money-changers from the temple or that the gospel of Jesus is one of revolutionary social justice through non-violence when its causes are systemic? 'When you did this for the least of my brethren, you did it for me,' as Jesus said.

[batgirl71]

Thank you Ms. Falsani. Yes, Father Pfleger was wrong to say what he did but those few words, no matter how mean-spirited or wrong they were, do not define the sum of this man's life and his good works. We, this so-called "Christian" nation, in tradition if not in law, seem unable to practice one of the central tenets of Christianity, forgiveness.

[realityczech4u]

I don't know that it's about forgiveness, batgirl. We seem to live in the age of the apology. Say something vile or offensive and you 'apologize'. (with it's implied plea for forgiveness). But what have you actually done by saying what you have but revealed what you believe? So unless you have done a 180 in your beliefs, your apology is meaningless.

[JohnKelly]

He is a hero in my book. Not for what he said about Clinton, but for the way he took on a Fox reporter as seen on brave new films. His rant about Hillary was meant for his audience, not the general public. Have we reached the point where nobody can say anything without first considering the possibilty of dissemination by a lazy snarky media with nothing better to do? Reverend Wright and Pastor Pflegler represent the best tradition of liberal church activism. They may go overboard with rhetoric once in a while, but they are dead on a lot of the time.

What these two men have said is no where near as ignorant, hurtful, and downright scary as the effluent Bush and company have been spouting out of their ignorant little pie holes for years, while the mainstream media types stupidly nod their heads as if something deeply insightful was wafting over them.

John

[devadasi]

'He's taken on drug dealers, big alcohol companies, the tobacco industry, Jerry Springer, the gun lobby, and gun-toting gang-bangers from his own back yard.' I wish there were more pastors that had the courage and the hutzpa to take up these causes. It's a shame Rev. Michael has to vacate the rectory. I really like and admire this pastor. Rev. Mike should come to New York and give a sermon....the place would be packed with both white and black people.