By 
Father Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest in Chicago known for his social justice work, has been removed from ministry pending the archdiocese’s review of accusations against him of sexual abuse.
Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, announced the investigation in a July 11 letter, saying that Pfleger will be removed from ministry while the archdiocese investigates the allegations.
Pfleger has pastored the predominantly Black parish St. Sabina, located on the South Side of Chicago, since 1981.
Cupich noted that Pfleger “strongly denied the allegation” of abuse alleged to have occurred more than 30 years ago at St. Sabina.
“We do not presume the truth or falsity of an allegation until the process is complete and our Independent Review Board has made a recommendation that I accept,” Cupich said. “Only by conducting a thorough and impartial review can we ensure fairness to all concerned.”
Cupich said the archdiocese has reported the allegation to law enforcement and that the archdiocese takes allegations seriously.
“I want to stress that the welfare of the children entrusted to our care is our paramount concern,” Cupich said. “The Archdiocese of Chicago takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously.”
Cupich referred to the archdiocesan website for “complete information about reporting sexual abuse.”
“We appreciate the courage it takes to step forward and encourage anyone who believes they have experienced abuse or inappropriate behavior by a member of the clergy, religious, or lay employee of the archdiocese to report it to the Office for the Protection of Children and Youth,” Cupich wrote. “They will be received with compassion and respect.”
Pfleger called the accusation an “absolute lie” in a statement on Facebook on July 11.
“I have no memory of this girl nor do countless others who have been at St. Sabina for those years,” Pfleger wrote.
Pfleger had previously been cleared by the archdiocese of accusations of sexual abuse by three men in 2021 and one man in 2022.
“For the 51 years of my ministry, I have been threatened, slandered, and attacked,” Pfleger said.
Pfleger criticized the archdiocese’s current policy, calling it “wrong and unfair to the accused priest.”
“The presumption of innocence does not exist for priests,” Pfleger said.
Pfleger said he has been targeted because of his social justice work.
“I get weekly hate calls and emails because of what I fight for and believe,” Pfleger said. “Just this past week I received numerous hate calls due to an action I took last Sunday washing the feet and apologizing to representatives of Indigenous people, Hispanics, African Americans, the LGBTQ+ community, Iranians, Venezuelans, women, and young African American males for the persecution they have suffered in America.”
He continued: “I have been under constant attack by the present administration, which I have vocally condemned as unlawful, racist, and wicked. For this I will not apologize.”
Pfleger has a colorful history in Chicago, leading fierce activism against drugs and guns along with outreach to prostitutes and drug dealers.
Some of the priest’s words and actions have put him at the center of controversy. The late Cardinal Francis George of Chicago suspended Pfleger in 2011 after the priest threatened to leave the priesthood if George reassigned him. The cardinal later accepted Pfleger’s apology and reinstated him as St. Sabina’s pastor. In 2019, Cupich publicly denounced Pfleger’s decision to invite Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to speak at St. Sabina.
“I believe this is another attempt and another attack by those who have sought to destroy me for years and another attempt by someone to get money from the archdiocese and to silence me,” Pfleger said.
“I will not stand by and allow my name, my ministry, and the church I pastor to be slandered or defamed,” he said in his statement.
Pfleger did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.
In his letter, Cupich encouraged the parish of St. Sabina, which will be pastored by Father Thulani Magwaza while Pfleger is under investigation.
“As your parish has been through this before, I can well understand your distress in learning of this development,” Cupich wrote. “I appreciate your patience and ask you to recall that our process of investigation and making a determination has proven effective in protecting the rights of all.”
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“Chicago Archdiocese investigates sex abuse accusation against activist priest”
Nothing will happen as long as Leftist Louie is heading up that Archdiocese.
Father Michael Pfleger is a great example of someone who NEVER should have been a priest to begin with.
Cardinal Cupich needs to retire ASAP.
Pfleger has a cult following, which is not good for any priest to have.
Similar to Bishop Barron or Bishop Athanasius Schneider?
What exactly is “cultic” about bishops who elucidate the faith as opposed to a priest who lies and slanders for a sense of purpose in life?
I’m not a fan of his, but he’s entitled to the presumption of innocence. We shouldn’t assume he’s guilty—or, even worse, hope that he is—simply because we disagree with his theology or his approach. Let the facts come out before reaching a judgment. Pray that truth and justice will be done!
CS Lewis:
“Suppose one reads a story of filthy atrocities in the paper. Then suppose that something turns up suggesting that the story might not be quite true, or not quite so bad as it was made out. Is one’s first feeling, ‘Thank God, even they aren’t quite so bad as that,’ or is it a feeling of disappointment, and even a determination to cling to the first story for the sheer pleasure of thinking your enemies are as bad as possible? If it is the second then it is, I am afraid, the first step in a process which, if followed to the end, will make us into devils. You see, one is beginning to wish that black was a little blacker. If we give that wish its head, later on we shall wish to see grey as black, and then to see white itself as black. Finally we shall insist on seeing everything – God and our friends and ourselves included – as bad, and not be able to stop doing it: we shall be fixed for ever in a universe of pure hatred.”
Andrew: do you think it’s morally acceptable for any Catholic to promote sinful behavior (unless, of course, sodomy is not a sin in your view)?
I tend to agree with Andrew here. Pfleger is entitled to the presumption of innocence on this matter-however he should have been laicized and excommunicated when he defied Cardinal Cody in 1981 or was insubordinate to Cardinal George regarding reassignment from St. Sabina’s or inviting Al Sharpton to speak at Mass or sermon at Trinity United Church of Christ, when he publicly threatened John Riggio.
His ecclesial rap sheet is long and lurid and he should have been removed from ministry a long time ago. Of course if the charges turn out to be valid, “heresy always begins below the belt”.
I don’t see where this priest “promotes” sinful behavior (unless, of course, caring for the poor and marginalized is a sin in your view)?
I’m not axiomatically opposed to everything he has pursued, he was right about Springer and Stern, but exactly how does he “care” for poor and “marginalized” (whatever the hell that means).
You know who cares for the poor? The people who get up everyday and work everyday-without them, nothing gets done, nothing gets produced.
Gerard: it’s called promoting sodomy. He’s been a vocal advocate for those living a homosexual lifestyle. Last I looked, the Catholic Church considered sodomy a sin. It’s sad that you just don’t get it.
Advocating for the rights of and ministering to the SSA is not promoting sodomy. any more than Jesus was promoting adultery when He warned that only those without sin should stone a woman caught in sin.
Cupich will never discipline a priest for that
When has he ever “cared” about the poor? Cheap demagoguery is pure indulgernce. Clearly you don’t see anything sinful about advancing ideologies of government enslavement that, by its nature, cannot avoid treating life as utilitarian commodities. Unborn lives, the poorest of the poor, ought to matter to a man who has previously supported a toleration for their extermination of convenience.
DiogenesRedux: I am an orthodox Roman Catholic. As such, I believe, profess, and affirm all that the Church teaches. This includes the Church’s teaching against calumny and rash judgment. See the Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2477, for details.
As I have said, I have serious concerns about this priest. Nevertheless, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty. Equally, the allegations should be taken seriously, and the alleged victim should be treated with dignity, compassion, and respect.
It is wrong to hope that the allegations are true simply because one dislikes the accused. Likewise, it is wrong to accuse others of being “woke” merely because they refuse to unjustly condemn someone before the facts are known.
Andrew: I can only conclude that you read but without comprehending. I said NOTHING about what this priest is accused of….NOTHING. I do not know whether he is guilty or innocent. I do know that he has supported the homosexual lifestyle in his role as pastor of a Catholic Church. It is THAT to which my remarks were addressed. Get it straight.
Yes. Whether or not we like someone’s views they deserve the presumption of innocence under the law, as we all do.
He should have been laicized long ago.
Virtue signaling while simultaneously playing the victim card has always been a particularly nauseous practice.
When done by a Priest – it is inexcusable.
He seems like both a virtuous man and a victim at this point. The nausea is something a doctor might be able to prescribe a remedy for.
Some folks who speak of virtue do so from a world perspective, more frequently including vile speech and hate filled behavior, a contradiction of prudence, temperance, fortitude, and justice, by catechetical meaning.
Virtue never involves a “world” perspective. The meaning of right and wrong are innate beccause they are permanently and immutably endowed by God. Resisting the truth about the nature of virtue and vice and ridiculing those who make appropriate distinctions are the worst form of sanctimony.
How is a priest, who slanders the Catholic religion while rationalizing the moral corruption of human sexuality, performing acts of virtue?
Did Cupich, the “liberal “ discipline one of his own? Why no cover up? Are you disappointed?
Great that they wait for 3decades before making complaint. How many dead witnesses. How much forgotten. Money grab. Way to weaken the Catholic church
Good investment?
Pfleger has been accused before, and has been exonerated.
The liturgical abuse is far worse, even if it is might shudder to hear this. Even if innocent of these latest allegations, he should not be in ministry.
It seems that the apologists of woke Catholicism have surfaced.
Priests guilty of sexual child abuse may have chosen the wrong religion to be clerics of:
“Consider, for example, this Muslim cleric discussing Muhammad’s marriage to the child Aisha when she was six and consummation of the marriage when she was nine. Far from blushing for shame, the cleric actually uses this anecdote to boast of the prophet’s “patience” and “magnanimity.” Translation of relevant excerpt follows:
The story of the prophet’s marriage to Aisha reveals to us aspects like the prophet’s conduct with Aisha, and more importantly the aspect regarding the relationship between the husband and wife, to show how one should treat his wife, just as the prophet did with Aisha. We know that Asia’s mother went to take her down from the swing that she was playing on to fix her hair and prepare her for the prophet so he could enter her [have sex with her]—and she did that all on the same day.
Aisha’s own account in SahihBukhari is telling enough: she talks about how her mother hurriedly prepared her and then “handed” her over to Muhammad, and how “nothing surprised me but the coming of Allah’s Apostle to me in the forenoon.”
The cleric continues:
So you see, she was playing with her fellow playmates even though her day of consummation was that very same day—and all that they did was to fix her up for the prophet so he could have sex with her. Now what do we see when the prophet married Aisha? Did he go to her and say “Okay that’s it, you’re married, you’re now a grown up, you’re supposed to be mature, you need to do this and that; you need to forget about your toys and your little friends; you are now a wife of a man, you have to see to my needs” and that’s it? No. The prophet allowed her to continue playing with her toy dolls—indeed, the prophet even sometimes gave her such things to play with. [This hadith has more details, including how Aisha’s little girl friends would “hide themselves” whenever the prophet came to her until he called them out.]
It should be noted that the cleric recounted the above with much awe and amazement—as if to say, “Look how indulgent and open-minded our prophet was!”
In fact, such was the cleric’s whole point: to show that Islam, according to the example of Muhammad, expects older Muslim husbands to be patient with their younger wives: “The older husband should not expect the younger wife to be at his level of maturity; rather, he should go down to her level, for he is capable, whereas she is not.”
https://www.raymondibrahim.com/06/29/2011/rationalizing-pedophilia-in-islam
Oscar: Din’t use this tragic news story as an opportunity for an anti-Islam rant. Your comment is completely inappropriate and irrelevant to this news item.
This is a genuine tragedy, whatever the outcome. Either someone was abused by a priest, or an innocent priest has been falsely accused. Both possibilities are deeply tragic.
No, there’s some relevance in that he’s saying there’s precedence in religious society for totally unacceptable behavior towards youth.
Please don’t forget this is a forum site.
(the left will lie about you to get you/scare you to shut up when you disagree with them)
I’d get rid of the guy just for wearing the communist raised-fist emblem on his T-shirt. Kind of tells us what his intentions are, doesn’t it?
Wow. Thank you Mr. Poulin, for noticing this, which I had missed. I looked it up and found this:
“While the symbol itself has deep roots in leftist and communist movements—such as the Red Front Fighters in Germany or the Black Panther Party—the color blue is not part of its traditional communist iconography. A raised fist in blue is more likely associated with other causes, such as LGBTQ+ rights (where blue is one of the bisexual pride colors).” It all goes together!
GERARD WRITES ABOVE: “Advocating for the rights of and ministering to the SSA is not promoting sodomy. any more than Jesus was promoting adultery when He warned that only those without sin should stone a woman caught in sin.”
#1. Christ named adultery a sin. He came to minister to sinners.
#2. Sodomy is a sin. Christ came to minister to sinners.
#3. Same-sex attraction doesn’t come with “rights.”
#4. Same-sex attraction is NOT a sin.
#5. Living an active homosexual lifestyle presumes sexual activity with a same-sex partner. That IS sinful matter.
#6. Pastors in the Catholic Church must name sins for what they are and not condone them. If pastors condone sin, how can Christ minister to them?
#7. Christ did not come in order to condone sin but so that sin may be forgiven.
#8. Our personal sin muddies our conscience and thinking about sinful matter.