Cardinal George weighs in on Pfleger flap - Priest agrees to 'not enter into campaigning' after Clinton remarks
By Manya A. Brachear and John McCormick
Tribune reporters 2:06 PM CDT, May 30, 2008
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-obama-preacher-webmay31,0,7885330.story
Chicago's Cardinal Francis George on Friday said that Rev. Michael Pfleger, who mocked Sen. Hillary Clinton from the pulpit of her opponent's South Side church last weekend, has promised the cardinal he will "not mention any candidate by name" in the future.
"To avoid months of turmoil in the church, Father Pfleger has promised me that he will not enter into campaigning," George said in a statement. "[He] will not publicly mention any candidate by name and will abide by the discipline common to all Catholic priests.
"Racial issues are both political and moral and are also highly charged," George said. "Words can be differently interpreted, but Father Pfleger's remarks about Senator Clinton are both partisan and amount to a personal attack. I regret that deeply."
Meanwhile, in a meeting with the Tribune editorial board, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said Pfleger "went overboard" in his comments and that what Pfleger said did not help promote constructive conversation about race.
George and Pfleger have clashed before. The cardinal has traditionally enforced church policies, dating back to the 1970s, that limit pastors to two 6-year terms in a parish. Exceptions for Pfleger had been made under the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, giving him a third term. Protests from parishioners who did not want Pfleger to leave at the end of that term led George to extend the priest's appointment indefinitely in 2002.
But since then, George has had to address controversial statements by Pfleger. At a rally for gun control in front of a Riverdale gun store last year, Pfleger named the owner of the gun store and threatened to "snuff" him out, which the Illinois State Rifle Association complained was street lingo for murder. Using the same language, Pfleger also called out legislators who accept money from the National Rifle Association.
The cardinal issued a letter to the state gun rights group questioning Pfleger's choice of words.
This time, the cardinal made Pfleger pledge to keep his mouth shut.
In an Internet video recorded Sunday, Pfleger is seen mocking Clinton from the pulpit.
"When Hillary was crying, and people said that was put on, I really don't believe it was put on," Pfleger said. "I really believe that she just always thought, 'This is mine. I'm Bill's wife, I'm white and this is mine. I just gotta get up and step into the plate' 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.' "
Obama expressed disappointment.
"As I have traveled this country, I've been impressed not by what divides us, but by all that unites us," Obama said in a statement. "That is why I am deeply disappointed in Father Pfleger's divisive, backward-looking rhetoric."
Speaking as a guest at Trinity United Church of Christ on Sunday, Pfleger mocked the tears Clinton displayed shortly before the New Hampshire primary in January.
"She wasn't the only one crying," Pfleger said. "There was a whole lot of white people crying."
Then, Pfleger, who is white, seemed to indicate that he might be going too far. "I'm sorry. I don't want to get you in any more trouble," he said, as the church's organ began to play to signal his exit from the pulpit.
Clinton's campaign condemned Pfleger's remarks.
"Divisive and hateful language like that is totally counterproductive in our efforts to bring our party together and have no place at the pulpit or in our politics," Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement. "We are disappointed that Sen. Obama didn't specifically reject Father Pfleger's despicable comments about Sen. Clinton, and assume he will do so."
The church has been Obama's spiritual home for years and also triggered a controversy this spring over remarks made by Obama's longtime pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr.
In late April, Obama denounced remarks from Wright after the retiring pastor gave a fiery appearance at the National Press Club, reaffirmed his view that the U.S. government may have initiated the AIDS epidemic to wipe out racial minorities, and praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as one of the most important voices of the 20th Century.
Obama has not attended the church since the controversy over Wright erupted in mid-March.
Pfleger, a longtime friend of Wright's and Obama's, could not be reached Friday for comment.
"I regret the words I chose Sunday," Pfleger said in a statement released by his church, St. Sabina. "These words are inconsistent with Sen. Obama's life and message, and I am deeply sorry if they offended Sen. Clinton or anyone else who saw them."
The Obama campaign said Pfleger stepped down several weeks ago from the campaign's Catholic Advisory Council.
In a Tribune story a year ago, Obama defended special budget earmarks for his district while he was a state legislator, including ones that went to programs associated with Pfleger's church.
Pfleger gave Obama's campaigns $1,500 between 1995 and 2001, including $200 in April 2001, about three months after Obama announced at least $100,000 in grants to St. Sabina programs.
In that story, Pfleger said he made those donations personally, not on behalf of the church or to win grants.
Rev. Dwight Hopkins, a professor at the University of Chicago Divinity School who attends Trinity, said Pfleger's charged remarks reflect an old-school approach. "One of the hallmarks of preaching is the speaker is expected to combine their interpretation of current events with the divinely inspired message from above," he said.
Hopkins said Trinity's current pastor, Rev. Otis Moss III, who is shown in the video introducing Pfleger, has been more careful and nuanced in the sermons he has delivered during the political season.
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