Thursday, April 28, 2011

Finally....Cardinal George Suspends Fr. Pfleger

The young people over at CatholicVote.org are on the case. Matt Bowman writes:

"The Archdiocese of Chicago has suspended the pastorship and priestly faculties of Fr. Michael Pfleger, the (in)famous left-wing priest in Chicago.

The dispute stemmed from discussions about a move away from pastorship, a move that Cardinal George said Fr. Pfleger wanted, but the details of which had not been finally resolved yet.

According to a letter released by Cardinal George, Fr. Pfleger took these private discussions onto national radio and television broadcasts to accuse the diocese of succumbing to right-wing pressure to take him out of the parish.

But what broke the camel’s back were comments by Pfleger during those interviews, in which he declared that the dispute could lead him to actually leave the Church.

Cardinal George correctly observed: 'If that is truly your attitude, you have already left the Catholic Church and are therefore not able to pastor a Catholic parish.'


Cardinal George has shown a superhuman patience towards Fr. Pfleger--perhaps more than was prudent. Matt writes:

"Even patience has its limits: as Cardinal George pointed out, to fend off Fr. Pfleger’s likely claim of victim status: 'This conflict is not between you and me; it’s between you and the Church that ordained you as a priest, between the faith that introduced you to Christ and gives you to the right to preach and pastor in his name. . . . You are not a victim of anyone or anything other than your own statements.'”

No comments: