Why does church need Pfleger fill-in?
ST. SABINA | 'We felt very disrespected,' longtime pastoral associate says
When the Rev. Michael Pfleger takes his annual vacation to Hawaii, usually for two weeks in October, Kimberly Lymore, the parish's pastoral associate since 2000, steps in to run St. Sabina Roman Catholic Church.
Lymore, 50, has been a member of the Faith Community of St. Sabina (as its members prefer to call it) for exactly half of her life, joining the parish in 1983 when it had about 300 members.
(Al Podgorski, Scott Stewart/Sun-Times, Courtesy)
Over the years, Lymore has become more and more active in the life of the parish, which now draws close to 2,000 worshippers on the weekend. She joined the choir and the liturgy committee and became a Eucharistic minister -- the title given to Catholic laity who have been authorized by the church to administer and distribute the consecrated communion host.
And in 2000, when St. Sabina's longtime pastoral associate quit, Pfleger called upon Lymore, who had worked in the corporate world for years as a systems analyst, to fill the position.
In 2003, Lymore, who is single and has no children, earned a master's degree in divinity from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, and next year she expects to complete Doctor of Ministry degree at McCormick Seminary.
With Lymore standing by in the rectory, why did Cardinal Francis George feel the need to appoint a temporary administrator -- the Rev. William Vanecko, pastor of neighboring St. Kilian parish -- during Pfleger's "leave of a couple of weeks from his pastoral duties"?
Could it be because she's a she?
"If it's only for two weeks -- if it's really ONLY for TWO WEEKS -- then why do we need an administrator?" Lymore said Wednesday. "We met with Vanecko this morning. He's kind of laid-back. He said, 'I was told by the diocese that you are run, basically, self-sufficiently.'
"Maybe they thought we need a priest to come in for mass. I don't know," she continued. "But we always have someone to do the mass. . . . We can have masses in the absence of a priest, just using consecrated hosts. We were trained to do that at CTU."
There are 98 active pastoral associates in the Chicago archdiocese, said Dianne Dunagan, a spokeswoman for the cardinal. None of the 98 on the archdiocese's official roster of pastoral associates -- which does not include Lymore's name, a discrepancy not immediately explained -- currently runs a parish. "They have in the past, but that's not the preferred use of pastoral associates," she said.
George has told Pfleger that he may not conduct any public ministry associated with St. Sabina during his forced leave, Pfleger said Wednesday. Not the wedding this Saturday. Not the St. Sabina kindergarten graduation. And maybe not the wedding scheduled for June 21.
It all depends on how long "a couple of weeks" actually turns out to be.
Pfleger's hasty departure has been traumatic for his parishioners.
"They didn't consult with us," Lymore told me. "We felt very disrespected as a faith community. Basically [George] is responding to the concerns of white Catholics," who were offended by Pfleger's comments on race in a sermon he gave late last month at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. "So what about your black Catholic community, the one you have again disrespected?"
I, for one, would like to hear the cardinal's answer.