How Could You? Hall of Shame-Father Michael Pfleger UPDATED

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From Chicago, Illinois, Father Michael Pfleger “the longtime leader of St. Sabina Church and a prominent anti-violence activist, has been removed from his church post following allegations of sexual abuse of a minor dating back more than 40 years.

Cardinal Blase Cupich issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying he’d asked Pfleger to step down from his role while the Archdiocese of Chicago investigates the decades-old allegation. Cupich said the incident has been reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Archdiocese leaders have offered counseling services to the alleged victim. Pfleger has complied with the request to step aside and will live away from the parish as the investigation continues, Cupich said.

Father Thulani Magwaza will step in as temporary administrator.

“It is crucial that you know nothing is more important than the welfare of the children entrusted to our care,” Cupich said in his statement. “The Archdiocese of Chicago takes all allegations of sexual misconduct seriously and encourages anyone who feels they have been sexually abused by a priest, deacon, religious or lay employee to come forward.”

Pfleger, who has presided over St. Sabina since 1981, could not immediately be reached for comment. Members of the St. Sabina cabinet issued a statement Tuesday defending Pfleger.

“We understand there is a process and protocol of the Archdiocese of Chicago and we will fully cooperate,” the group said in its statement. “However, we believe that our [senior pastor] will be fully exonerated from all accusations and we will stand with him during this process as he had stood with victims of injustice, and will continue to uplift his work and the life he has committed to serving others.”

Pfleger was ordained as a priest in 1975 and took over St. Sabina six years later when he was 31.

The same year he began his post at St. Sabina, he adopted an 8-year-old son, Lamar. He adopted another son, Beronti Simms, in 1992 and became a foster parent to Jarvis Franklin in 1997.

Franklin was fatally shot near St. Sabina in May 1998. Simms died in 2012, four days after undergoing surgery.

Over the past several decades, Pfleger has been a pillar of the predominately Black communities to which he ministers, though he’s drawn supporters from throughout the city and country. He’s been a vociferous activist, protesting gun violence and gun laws, alcohol and tobacco marketing targeting children in minority communities, and racial injustice, among many other issues.

Just this week, the pastor led an anti-violence march down the Magnificent Mile to protest the staggering spike of homicides in 2020. Pfleger and St. Sabina also have routinely put up reward money in an effort to break the code of silence that stops people from coming forward to identify people responsible for gun violence.

Among those reward efforts included tens of thousands of dollars raised in support of finding those involved in the brutal killing of 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee in 2015, and $15,000 raised in the aftermath of mass shooting outside a Auburn Gresham funeral home in July.

St. Sabina is the center of numerous community outreach programs, including mentoring and employment assistance for local youths and adults, violence intervention and food distribution.

Father Michael Pfleger Removed From St. Sabina Over Child Sex Abuse Allegations From 40 Years Ago

[Block Club Chicago 1/5/21 by Jamie Nesbitt Gordon]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “There’s one name you won’t see in any of the stories about Pfleger. It starts with an “O” and ends with an “A”.

It’s funny because those names used to be associated quite a bit. When I broke the Pfleger story back in the day, I called him the white Jeremiah Wright. It was a fitting description because the two men were linked by their ties to Farrakhan and their racist bluster. Obama was forced to cut ties with both Wright and Pfleger.

Even though Pfleger used to be Obama’s “moral compass”.

Friends and advisers, such as the Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church in the Auburn- Gresham community on the South Side, who has known Obama for the better part of 20 years, help him keep that compass set, he says.

“I always have felt in him this consciousness that, at the end of the day, with all of us, you’ve got to face God,” Pfleger says of Obama. “Faith is key to his life, no question about it. It is central to who he is, and not just in his work in the political field, but as a man, as a black man, as a husband, as a father…. I don’t think he could easily divorce his faith from who he is.”

Pfleger kept on ranting about his favorite cause: 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.

“We’re gonna snuff out legislators who are voting [garbled] against our gun laws and we’re coming for you because we are not going to sit idly.”

And then the child abuse allegations arrived.

The Chicago Tribune has interviews with two brothers who allege that Pfleger began abusing them from the ages of 12 and 13.

Nearly five decades later, the two men now say that former choir director, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, molested them dozens of times over several years beginning in the early 1970s. The brothers said they were sexually abused in Pfleger’s room at three churches, beginning at Precious Blood and including St. Sabina on the South Side, where the well-known priest has been assigned since his 1975 ordination.

The men, who are in their early 60s and live in Texas, said the abuse was a secret they had never revealed, not even to each other, until the younger of the two filed a complaint Jan. 4 to the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. The archdiocese announced the next day that Pfleger had agreed to step away from ministry while an allegation of abuse was investigated.

“I go back in my young mind and I say to myself, ‘What’s happening here?’ And I ask myself, ‘What do I do, you know, other than freeze?’” said the older brother, a 63-year-old former police sergeant and U.S. Air Force veteran, choking back tears. “You lay there and you hold your breath and hope for the best.”

The men have asked not to be publicly named, in part to protect the privacy of relatives who still live in Chicago and, they said, fear possible fallout from supporters of Pfleger. The older brother filed his complaint with the archdiocese Friday.

The older brother said Pfleger began molesting him about a year after they met, when he was 12, and continued from 1970 to 1976, in dozens of incidents at Precious Blood, Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Glenview, St. Sabina and the Mundelein seminary.

The man said he often tried to pretend he was sleeping during the abuse, which included acts of penetration, according to his complaint. The two were always alone in the bedroom during the incidents, he told the Tribune. There were no threats, discussions or apologies afterward, he said.

Obama couldn’t have found a better choice for keeping his moral compass straight.”

Two Brothers Reveal Obama’s “Moral Compass” Molested Them Since They Were 12 and 13

[Front Page Magazine 1/25/21 by Daniel Greenfield]

Update 2:“The Archdiocese of Chicago has started its investigation into Rev. Michael Pfleger after DCFS indicated there’s no current risk to children by the embattled priest.

On Friday, the archdiocese said the agency can only determine whether there is a current child victim and does not investigate allegations made by adults.

The Independent Review Board of the archdiocese will now start its investigation into the allegations made by two brothers in the 1980s, alleging child sex abuse by Pfleger.

Pfleger broke his silence Wednesday, saying on social media that he is innocent of the allegations.

The Saint Sabina community has continued to support Pfleger during this time.

“We want to make them aware,” said associate minister Kimberly Lymore. “Respect the process, we want them to expedite it as fast as they can so we can get back to normal.”

The archdiocese said there’s not a time frame for their investigation into Pfleger and he must continue to live away from the church.

The attorneys representing the accusers said “more troubling evidence” will be presented regarding Pfleger in the coming days.

“DCFS does not have jurisdiction to investigate sexual abuse claims made by adults. Further, neither of the brothers provided statements to DCFS. DCFS’ findings have no bearing on the legal proceedings involving my clients or whether the Archdiocese of Chicago will remove Father Pfleger from his ministry. Father Pfelger himself knows the truth of these allegations. More troubling evidence regarding Father Pfleger will be presented to the Archdiocese and the media in the coming day,” attorney Eugene Hollander-He said.

The Faith Community of St. Sabina released the following statement.

“Today the Archdiocese of Chicago announced that it received a copy of the letter of determination regarding Fr. Pfleger and the letter held that DCFS determined the report to be “unfounded.”

Since the beginning of this process The Faith Community of Saint Sabina has maintained that Fr. Pfleger was no threat to any minor children and was innocent of the allegations being leveled against him. The letter from DCFS only affirms what we hold to be true, children are safe at Saint Sabina.

With this finding and being unaware of any other investigations we hope Fr. Pfleger will be returned to Saint Sabina.”
Pfleger’s attorney released the following statement.

“Father Pfleger is pleased that DCFS has determined that the report of suspected sexual abuse is unfounded. Father Pfleger looks forward to returning to St. Sabina’s as soon as possible,” attorney Jim Figliulo said.”
Archdiocese investigation into Rev. Michael Pfleger begins after DCFS indicates no current risk
[WGN TV 2/26/21 by Gaynor Hall]

Update 3:“A third man has come forward accusing St. Sabina pastor, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, of inappropriate sexual behavior.

In an affidavit, the 59-year-old man, a St. Sabina graduate who now lives in Texas, says he was 18 when Pfleger allegedly grabbed him in a sexual manner. He says it happened in 1979.

The man says he smoked marijuana and drank alcohol with Pfleger beginning when he was 15 or 16.

“Father Pfleger definitively states that this alleged incident, which purportedly occurred when the man was 18 years old, did not happen. He never touched this man in any sexual or inappropriate way at any time,” Pfleger’s attorney said.

Unlike the two brothers who allege years of sexual abuse, the man says he does not plan to file an independent claim with the archdiocese, or to seek a financial settlement.

The man says he is coming forward because he is worried about victim trashing, and wanted to acknowledge that the brothers were not the only cases of Pfleger acting inappropriately.

Pfleger has denied the allegations made by the brothers.

“We have received the affidavit and will process it as we do every such allegation,” the archdiocese said in a statement.”

Third man accuses Michael Pfleger of inappropriate sexual behavior

[WGNTV 3/3/21 by Julian Crews]

Update 4:” Two men who say St. Sabina’s activist priest, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, of sexual abuse in the 1970s have taken lie-detector tests in hopes of strengthening their accusations.

On Tuesday, Attorney Eugene Hollander also told WLS AM 890 morning show host Bruce St. James the brothers who are now in their 60s “wanted to use every means at their disposal to get the truth out there and show the St. Sabina community, the Archdiocese of Chicago and the independent review board that they’re telling the truth,” about their claims Pfleger assaulted them in the 1970s.

Hollander said the victims also want Pfleger to submit to a lie-detector test.

“We want Father Pfleger to tell the truth here,” he said. “We want him to submit to a polygraph exam.”

Pfleger’s attorneys told the Tribune the call for the lie-detector test is “just the latest unscrupulous activity for Mr. Hollander and his clients to get more money and publicity.”

Hollander also told WLS AM 890 that a fourth man has accused Pfleger of sexual abuse.

“We have not just the brothers, but a third victim has come forward and said that he was sexually assaulted by Father Pfleger,” Hollander said on the morning show. “Additionally, I’ve been in communication with the Chicago Police Department, a detective, who told me there is in fact a fourth victim who made a complaint to DCFS and it was turned over to the Chicago Police Department.”

Pfleger has said he is innocent of the sex abuse charges levied against him.

“I am innocent of the charges made against me and continue to believe [the Archdiocese] review board and the Cardinal will see the truth, conclude that these uncorroborated allegations are unfounded and restore me to the ministry at St. Sabina,” Pfleger wrote in a letter to parishioners. “In the meantime I know that I cannot emotionally or spiritually continue to remain isolated in an apartment waiting for this Board to do its job … I will no longer wait in silence.”

Last month, St. Sabina officials accused the Archdiocese leaders of intentionally delaying its investigation of Pfleger, putting the South Side parish’s finances and future in jeopardy.

“Many donors are pulling away due to this uncertainty. To date, we have lost $500,000 in previously committed funds to our community outreach programs. Donors have expressed their distrust, not in [Father] Pfleger, but in this investigation process and they are holding funds waiting to see if [Father] Pfleger returns,” St. Sabina officials said in a statement.”

Fourth Victim Alleges Sex Abuse By Father Pfleger, Attorney Says
[Patch 3/31/21 by Mark Konkol]

Update 5:“The Archdiocese of Chicago is reinstating the Rev. Michael Pfleger to his post as senior pastor at St. Sabina following decades-old child sex allegations.

Pfleger has been sidelined for over five months after two brothers accused him of child sex abuse over several years at the beginning of career. A third man accused Pfleger of abuse starting when he was 18.

A letter to the community from Cupich says a review of abuse allegations against Pfleger shows “no reason to suspect” he is guilty of the accusations.”

Cupich has asked Pfleger to take a couple weeks to prepare himself to return and he has agreed. He will be reinstated as pastor the weekend of June 5 and 6.

St. Sabina scheduled a news conference at 3 p.m. Monday in which Pfleger gave his first public statement in months.”

‘I am innocent’: Michael Pfleger speaks for first time following reinstatement by Archdiocese of Chicago
[WGN 5/24/21 by Patrick Elwood]

Update 6: A third man has accused Fr. Michael Pfleger of sexual abuse in the 1980’s. Fr. Pfleger has stepped aside from ministry while the archdiocese of Chicago investigates.

Church Reacts to child sex abuse allegation against Father Pfleger

[Yahoo 10/16/22 ]

Update 7:” Father Michael Pfleger has been reinstated to his position as senior pastor at Saint Sabina Catholic Church, according to a letter released by Cardinal Blase Cupich and the Archdiocese of Chicago Saturday.

Fr. Pfleger was asked to step away from the parish back in October as the archdiocese’s Independent Review Board investigated a second round of decades-old claims of child sex abuse levied against Pfleger in the last two years.

In the letter, Cupich said, “The Review Board has concluded that there is no reason to suspect Father Pfleger is guilty of these allegations. Having given careful consideration to their decision, which I fully accept, I now inform you that I am reinstating Father Pfleger to his position of senior pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina, effective immediately.”

A year prior to this round of allegations, Fr. Pfleger was reinstated after three men — including a pair of brothers who were juveniles at the time — alleged Pfleger sexually abused them.

“My client is extremely disappointed in today’s findings,” said attorney Eugene Hollander in a statement. “We had overwhelming evidence concerning these sexual abuse allegations. Today’s finding, unfortunately, will discourage other victims of sexual abuse from coming forward.”

Hollander pointed toward the IRB not disclosing a basis for their findings and reiterated his client’s claim that Fr. Pfleger sexually assaulted him on two separate occasions at the rectory of the church.

“The man decided to come forward after he saw media reports in 2021 about two brothers who claimed that Father Pfleger sexually abused them some 40 years earlier,” Hollander said. “The brothers both voluntarily submitted to polygraph examinations and passed. The brothers also presented evidence from a third victim who claimed that the priest sexually assaulted him shortly after he turned the age of 18. All of my clients presented credible and detailed evidence concerning the abuse.”

Fr. Pfleger will return to the pulpit at St. Sabina’s tomorrow morning for their 10 a.m. service.”
Cupich: Father Pfleger reinstated to St. Sabina Church
[WGN TV 12/10/22 by Eli Ong, Jewell Hillery, Jackie Bange]