Friday, June 08, 2007

Cardinal spanks gadfly Chicago priest


The Rev. Michael Pfleger has been a Chicago media fixture for twenty years. He's the pastor at St. Sabina Church on the city's South Side.

And he's kind of a pest, a blond, Catholic Jesse Jackson, but like the Jetster, he has a talent, albeit on a local basis, of attracting attention.

From CBS 2 Chicago:

Francis Cardinal George has taken an unusual step: issuing a statement about the Archdiocese of Chicago’s activist priest, the Rev. Michael Pfleger, for comments he made at an anti-gun rally.

It is the latest episode in longstanding tensions between George and Pfleger, who have clashed over everything from doctrine to politics. The cardinal said in his statement: "Publicly delivering a threat against anyone’s life betrays the civil order and is morally outrageous, especially if this threat came from a priest."

But Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina parish, said he didn’t make a threat, and that no one from the archdiocese contacted him about the May 26 rally outside of Chuck’s Gun Shop in Riverdale, run by John Riggio. "We’re going to snuff out John Riggio," Pfleger told the estimated 200 people at the rally. "We’re going to snuff out legislators that are voting against our gun laws."

Pfleger said he didn’t know the word "snuff" was slang for "killing." "Police were there. Reporters were there. No one understood me as calling for murder," he said. "I was talking about exposing the gun shop owners and legislators who support them."

Not credible. Also, perhaps Pfleger was caught up in the moment, but it's hard to envision the logic of "legislators that are voting against our gun laws."

Obviously many people oppose gun ownership, but the owner of the business is operating his store in a legal manner.

Related post:

Chicago's Cardinal George breaks hip on Holy Saturday

Thanks for the link: Song of the Suburbs

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