It’s true, there have been abuses elsewhere in the Catholic Church, which I won’t belabor here, but the large hierarchical structure of the Catholic Church, with its dependence on a successor of Saint Peter, does tend to weed out nut-jobs like Father Pfleger.

Reverend Wright can get away with what he says, and retire to a palatial mansion, because he belongs to a relatively small denomination of hate-filled churches, and within those circles his rhetoric is accepted, although rejected by the great majority of Christians.

But most Catholic worshippers come to church for the word, body, and blood of Jesus Christ, not radical racist politics, and “mainstream” Catholics, including those who voted for Hillary Clinton, were probably shocked by Father Pfleger’s words, and let Cardinal George hear about it.

Back in the 1980’s, a young Catholic bishop in France was preaching in favor of homosexuality, and ignored several warnings from Pope John Paul II. Since only the Pope can de-frock a bishop, but he didn’t want to face the embarrassment of admitting a mistake in ordaining him, Pope John Paul II had him transferred to an ancient diocese in Madagascar, where there are no Catholics left–the bishop effectively became a shepherd without sheep. If Cardinal George was smart, this bishop should get a new assistant priest in Father Pfleger.

Instead, the Cardinal should be focusing his main attention on the fact that a true Catholic priest has not been in the pulpit of St. Sabina’s for decades.

ColtsFan on June 3, 2008 at 8:08 PM

amen

The challenge to the reputation of Christianity through the ages has been the number of people who wear a cross but contradict Christ. It is understandable because man is a sinner, and hypocrisy is the useful sin

The difficulty is the political trick of using the title of priest or minister to transfer the credibility that Jesus rightly deserves to people who are so far from Christ they have lost track of what Jesus was saying

You need only compare Marin Luther King to Rev. Wright or Pfleger. King fought against a huge institutionalized evil, yet King did not damn America.

King knelt obstinately at the doors of injustice and they opened

Christ stood by as Pilate performed his legalities and Christ hung on the cross without cursing Rome.

In the end, Rome became Catholic. The formal switch to Catholicism was somewhat political, and faith used for political means, or as a talisman, is a mistake which for Rome created generations of political Christians who could boil other believers in oil.

Christianity must come from immersing the heart in the whole Christ, not just the useful parts

I am an admirer or Pope Benedict, who was aked before he became Pope how the pedophile priests could have done such crimes. The Pope replied that if their faith was more than a hypothetical, they could not have done such acts.

All churches, like all people, face relentless temptations to twist the Word. The Catholic Church is not more corrupt than any one man. Unfortunately, the hierachical structure which can protect and preserve the Word, can also prolong abuses. Rome is far away and Benedict has a great battle ahead.

A clerical calling imbues great power and authority to influence people. God help those foolish enough to waste that authority on something so trivial as a presidential election.

Infidoll on June 3, 2008 at 6:45 PM

There you go, Infidoll, fixed it for you.

SPRINGFIELD , Ill. , May 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The following was released today by the Illinois State Rifle Association (ISRA):

Nobody expected Saturday’s Operation PUSH protest at Chuck’s Gun Shop & Range to be anything other than a circus of the bizarre. However, nobody anticipated that an address by a Chicago priest would include a call for the murder of a suburban gun shop owner and legislators who oppose gun control.

During an address at an anti-gun rally in front of Chuck’s, Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina’s Church, exhorted the crowd to “drag” shop owner, John Riggio, from his shop “like a rat” and “snuff” him.

Rev. Pfleger went on to tell the crowd that legislators that vote against gun control legislation should be “snuffed” as well. As many know, “snuff” is slang for especially violent murder.

The ISRA has a recording of Pfleger’s remarks in MP3 format.

“Certainly Fr. Pfleger has offered Absolution to a murderer or two during his tenure as a priest,” commented ISRA Executive Director, Richard Pearson. “That’s why it’s shocking to hear him actually advocate the murder of a gun shop owner who has never committed a crime in his life. He then compounds the problem by calling for the murder of legislators who disagree with his personal political views — something I suspect is a felony in this state. Pfleger’s comments were disgusting and dangerous. And, I seem to remember that the Fifth Commandment frowns on murdering one’s neighbor.”

“This week, I’ll be penning a letter to the Archbishop, expressing my concerns over Rev. Pfleger’s comments,” continued Pearson. “I would hope that the Archbishop would reply with words of comfort for Mr. Riggio, his family, state legislators, and all others who were injured by Rev. Pfleger’s thoughtless, inflammatory remarks.”

The ISRA is the state’s leading advocate of safe, lawful, and responsible firearms ownership. Since 1903, the ISRA has represented the interests of over 1.5 million law-abiding firearm Illinois firearm owners.

SOURCE Illinois State Rifle Association

link

Cardinal George’s hesitancy probably had more to do with not wanting Ffleger to take off with loyal parishioners.

Connie on June 3, 2008 at 6:31 PM

It doesn’t seem as if there are many ‘loyal’ parishoners at St. Sabina in the first place.

Father Pfleger, you are a liar. You mocked her and intended to mock her.

rbj on June 3, 2008 at 9:00 PM

Yeah, that’s OUR job. (The difference being that we do it when and where it’s appropriate, and we aren’t representing it as a church’s sermon.)

Don’t mess with the Church!

pseudonominus on June 3, 2008 at 5:59 PM

That’s right– look no further than Pope Gregory XI…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_IX

(Sorry- delete the last period)

Don’t mess with the Church!

pseudonominus on June 3, 2008 at 5:59 PM

That’s right– look no further than Pope Gregory XI…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_IX.

Via Hot Air:Apparently the Chicago diocese has had enough of Michael Pfleger, at least for now. The cardinal has suspended the controversial priest who called America the “greatest sin against God”, and who mocked Hillary Clinton from the pulpit la…

“I really don’t believe it was put on. I always thought she felt ‘This is mine. I’m Bill’s wife. I’m white. And this is mine. I just got to get up and step into the plate,’” he said. “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.’”

Pfleger then pretended to cry in a dramatization that included a handkerchief.

. . .

“I apologize for anyone who was offended and thought it to be mockery. that was neither my intent nor was it my heart,” Pfleger said Sunday

Father Pfleger, you are a liar. You mocked her and intended to mock her.

It’s much closer to the truth, I think, that he is suspended for breaching the wall between Church and State – for mixing religion with politics. Most people don’t realize that it is the religion institutions that are sullied when this happ…

It is hard to imagine a Catholic priest, obsessed with so much hate, trashing our country from the pulpit of a United Church of Christ church.

Yup.

That happened. That and more. A lot more.

Even harder to imagine a first term senator spawned from this hateful environment running for leader of the free world.

Yup. And that same first term senator is going to be the next president. Sure looks like it.

The dumbing of America is in it’s final stages. volsense on June 3, 2008 at 7:21 PM

Depends. Depends on if he’s elected or not.

“The Cardinal immediately contacted Pfleger who agreed not to refer to the presidential candidates by name, but as CBS 2 reported at the time, there remained the possibility of some further disciplinary action against Pfleger.

Those regulations ban the preaching of partisan politics.”
CBS story

I am not Catholic because I hold these propositions to be Biblical essentials of the historic Christian faith.

But my limited perspective here is that the news media is characterizing the Cardinal’s “problem with Pfleger” to center primarily on his usage of the political candidates’ names from the pulpit.

What about Pfleger’s many deviations away from historic, orthodox Catholic theology? For example, his theology seems more in line with Marxist, liberation theology than it does with traditional Catholic teaching upheld by Rome.

What about Pfleger’s un-Catholic-like conduct in other areas of his life?

What about Pfleger forgetting his calling and allegiance to obeying Church leaders?

As a Chicagoland resident, I do not consider Pfleger to be a true Catholic priest. He has disrespected Catholic authority openly in the past.

I believe these questions of mine are a lot more relevant and more substantive than singling out Pfleger for a Sunday morning sermon where he mentioned candidate’s names from the pulpit.

Instead, the Cardinal should be focusing his main attention on the fact that a true Catholic priest has not been in the pulpit of St. Sabina’s for decades.

He’s on ice, ice, baby

PS-JonRoss–you aren’t wrong, he is white, maybe he hasn’t ever looked in a mirror.

I always wondered what came of Navin R. Johnson.

He just changed his name…

And, yes, I’ve attended services at Catholic churches in inner city neighborhoods.