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Mark Houck: My family’s photo is on Mother Teresa’s tomb

October 17, 2022 Catholic News Agency 1
Mark Houck gives a speech at the Men’s March in Boston on Oct. 15, 2022. / Credit: Screenshot of Facebook Livestream “My Mother Mary”

Boston, Mass., Oct 17, 2022 / 16:11 pm (CNA).

Mark Houck, the Catholic pro-life father of seven who was arrested last month after a controversial early-morning FBI raid at his home, says Mother Teresa’s nuns in the Missionaries of Charity have placed a photo of his family on her tomb in Kolkata, India.

“They placed it right on the crypt and every morning they pray over that image,” he said.

“Praise God, right?” he added.

Houck made the comments Saturday in Boston, where he was a featured speaker at a pro-life event known as The Men’s March.

Houck was arrested Sept. 23 on charges he violated the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act by allegedly assaulting a Planned Parenthood clinic escort in an altercation outside a Philadelphia abortion clinic in October 2021. Houck, who maintains he shoved the man to stop him from verbally haranguing one of Houck’s sons, has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Since his arrest at his family home, the Department of Justice and the FBI have faced severe criticism from lawmakers, clergy, pro-lifers, and media personalities, while Houck has received support from Catholic bishops and most recently German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, who paid a visit to the Houck family Oct. 12 at their home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, an online fund drive has raised more than $382,000 for the family.

The Boston event, officially The National Men’s March to Abolish Abortion and Rally for Personhood, is a national pro-life march that calls men to stand for life. Last year’s march was held in Baltimore during the U.S. bishops’ fall assembly.

Houck began his speech by talking about his trust in Jesus in the midst of his family’s trials.

“First of all, be not afraid. What’s happening to me is a good thing. It’s a way to know you’re in God’s holy will. Amen?” he told the crowd.

“When they come after you and they persecute you, you know you’re in the will of God. And my wife and my children, my seven babies, we have great trust in the Lord. So be not afraid. Stand in the gap. And that’s where you’re called to be as men,” he said.

Houck said that numerous people — including the Missionaries of Charity — have assured him of their prayers since his arrest. CNA sought comment from the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata but did not receive a response prior to publication.

“We have people in Uganda and Europe praying. We have people all over the world praying. We have people in Boston praying. We are very encouraged by that,” Houck said.

One man, who called himself “a lousy Catholic,” told Houck that “after seeing what happened to you, I’m going back to the Church,” Houck told the marchers, who wore suits for the event.

“We will stay the course. We will fight the good fight. We will run the race,” Houck said.

You can watch Houck’s full speech on Facebook here.

[…]

The Dispatch

Chicago’s Father Michael Pfleger removed from ministry over new sexual abuse allegations

October 16, 2022 Catholic News Agency 20
Father Michael Pfleger / Photo: Daniel X. O’Neil CC BY 2.0 / null

St. Louis, Mo., Oct 16, 2022 / 12:50 pm (CNA).

A well-known Chicago priest has been asked to step aside from ministry during an investigation into an allegation of sexual abuse against a minor. 

Father Michael Pfleger, senior pastor at St. Sabina parish and a well-known social activist, will live away from his parish while the allegation — which he denies — is investigated. The alleged abuse occurred more than 30 years ago, the archdiocese says. 

In an Oct. 15 letter, Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago said Pfleger has “agreed to cooperate fully” with the request to step aside from ministry following the allegation made to the Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review. 

As is required by archdiocesan child protection policies, the allegation was reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and law enforcement, Cupich wrote. The archdiocese has begun its investigation and “we will do our best to keep you informed,” the cardinal pledged. 

“The person making the allegation has been offered the services of our Victim Assistance Ministry and the archdiocese has begun its investigation and we will do our best to keep you informed,” Cupich wrote.  

St. Sabina pastor Father Thulani Magwaza will serve as parish administrator in Pfleger’s stead, Cupich wrote, and noted that until Magwaza returns from a visit with family in early November, Father David Jones will serve as temporary administrator.

This marks the second allegation of sexual abuse leveled against Pfleger in the past two years; after three men brought forward allegations in early 2021, Pfleger was reinstated that June after a Chicago archdiocese investigation concluded there was “insufficient reason” to suspect he was guilty of the allegations, which he had denied. 

In an Oct. 15 statement of his own, Pfleger complained that “the process of the Archdiocese today is that a priest is presumed guilty until proven innocent.” He said his status as a “high-profile,” “outspoken” and “controversial” person has engendered “jealousy, attacks, and hate.”

“Let me be clear — I am completely innocent of this accusation,” he wrote. “It seems like most of my ministry I have spent fighting to stay a priest and to continue the work of justice, and to serve the good people of St. Sabina’s and our community. I cannot express how difficult, disruptive, and painful this process is to me and those who are close to me.”

A Chicago native, Pfleger has spoken out against the epidemic of gun violence in the city’s South Side that has afflicted his parishioners at St. Sabina’s, a predominantly African-American parish community. Pfleger adopted an 8-year-old boy in 1981 and another son in 1992. In 1997 he became the foster father of another city youth who was killed in a gang shootout in 1998.

The priest’s actions have put him at the center of controversy for years. 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 controversial Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan to speak at St. Sabina.

Pfleger has voiced support for the ordination of women as Catholic priests, a position that the Church has held to be incompatible with the Catholic understanding of the priesthood.

Pfleger also attracted attention and criticism for a Dec. 2021 Christmas Eve Mass that featured jazz musicians, choreographed dances around the altar, and theatrical lighting effects. Many of those upset by the Mass said it crossed the line from worship to entertainment.

Contacted by CNA at the time, Pfleger declined to answer questions about the Christmas Eve liturgy.

“These are some of the same people that attack Pope Francis and Cardinal Cupich and have ignored the gift and value of Black Catholicism in the Catholic Church, so I am not responding to their attacks,” Pfleger said in an email.

[…]