by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(June 2, 2008) Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has issued a statement saying he deeply regrets the remarks made about Hillary Clinton by Father Michael Pfleger during a sermon he gave last Sunday at the former church of Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).
“Words can be differently interpreted, but Father Pfleger’s remarks about Senator Clinton are both partisan and amount to a personal attack,” the Cardinal said. “I regret that deeply.”
He said the Catholic Church does not endorse political candidates and even though a priest must speak to political issues that are also moral issues, he is not permitted to endorse a candidate or to engage in partisan campaigning.
Therefore, “To avoid months of turmoil in the church, Father Pfleger has promised me that he will not enter into campaigning, will not publicly mention any candidate by name and will abide by the discipline common to all Catholic priests.”
During the May 25 sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ, Father Pfleger mocked
Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY). “When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don’t believe it was put on,” Pfleger said during the sermon. “I really believe that she just always thought, ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife, I’m white and this is mine. I just gotta get up and step into the plate’ and then out of nowhere came, ‘Hey, I’m Barack Obama’ and she said, ‘Oh, damn. Where did you come from? I’m white. I’m entitled. There’s a black man stealing my show.’”
Father Pfleger has publicly apologized for these comments, saying in a written statement, “I regret the words I chose on Sunday. These words are inconsistent with Senator Obama’s life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Senator Clinton or anyone else who saw them.”
This is not the first time the pastor has been embroiled in a controversy that caused conflict between himself and Cardinal George.
Shortly after Cardinal George took over the reins of the Archdiocese from the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, he wanted to enforce traditional church policies that limit pastors to two six-year terms in a parish. However, Father Pfleger did not want to leave Saint Sabina parish. Because Cardinal Bernardin had already granted Father Pfleger a third term, and so many parishioners of Saint Sabina protested when the end of his third term drew near, Cardinal George agreed in 2002 to extend his appointment indefinitely.
In 2003, the Cardinal once again clashed with Father Pfleger when he invited Al Sharpton to speak at Saint Sabina’s during Black History Month. Cardinal George objected to the invitation because Sharpton is a vocal supporter of abortion rights and was also a Presidential candidate at the time.
In the summer of 2007, the two clashed again over controversial statements made by Father Pfleger while he and other religious leaders such as Rev. Jesse Jackson were on a campaign to change the nation’s gun laws in the wake of the violent deaths of 33 Chicago public school children. While outside a particular gun shop which Pfleger and Jackson claimed was the place from where most of the guns were being sold, Father Pfleger threatened to “snuff”out – meaning “murder” in street lingo – the owner of the gun store. He directed the same threats against legislators who accept money from the National Rifle Association.
Cardinal George responded by saying that “Publicly delivering a threat against anyone’s life betrays the civil order and is morally outrageous, especially if this threat came from a priest.”
Father Pfleger has been very involved with Barack Obama over the years. According to an article appearing in the Chicago Tribune, Pfleger gave Obama’s campaigns $1,500 between 1995 and 2001, including $200 in April 2001, about three months after Obama announced $100,000 in grants to St. Sabina programs. Father Pfleger said he made those donations personally, not on behalf of his parish or to win grants.
Until recently, Father Pfleger also served on Obama’s controversial “Catholic Advisory Council,” which includes the likes of Senators Edward Kennedy, Chris Dodd and John Kerry. Also seated on this council is Kathleen Sebelius, the staunchly pro-abortion governor of Kansas who recently received a public rebuke from Archbishop Burke for defying his request to refrain from receiving communion due to her unrepentant support of abortion rights.
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In “Faith and Politics: Voting the Catholic Conscience” Ambassador Alan Keyes and Fr. Edmund Sylvia give us guidance on how to fulfill our moral obligation to use our vote to promote the common good and the dignity of the human person.
