Fr. Michael Pfleger

A couple of videos of Fr. Michael Pfleger preaching at Trinity UCC in Chicago (the church of Jeremiah Wright and Barack H. OBama). In one, he castigates whites who say they shouldn’t be held responsible for American slavery (which ended in 1865) because, he says, they still benefit from it. In the other, he calls Wright “one of the greatest Biblical scholars this nation has,” and screams against any who would “dare” criticize Louis Farrakhan.

Update: Barack Obama and Cardinal George have distanced themselves from Pfleger’s comments.

The Cardinal said:

The Catholic Church does not endorse political candidates. Consequently, while a priest must speak to political issues that are also moral, he may not endorse candidates nor engage in partisan campaigning.

Racial issues are both political and moral and are also highly charged. Words can be differently interpreted, but Fr. Pfleger’s remarks about Senator Clinton are both partisan and amount to a personal attack. I regret that deeply.

To avoid months of turmoil in the church, Fr. Pfleger has promised me that he will not enter into campaigning, will not publicly mention any candidate by name and will abide by the discipline common to all Catholic priests.