Pfleger: 'I am deeply sorry'
ST. SABINA | Priest contrite about making fun of Hillary, cites hate mail
The Rev. Michael Pfleger told a packed congregation at St. Sabina Catholic Church on Sunday he is neither racist nor sexist -- but he apologized for controversial statements about Sen. Hillary Clinton made last week at Trinity United Church of Christ, where Sen. Barack Obama and his family had been longtime members.
"For whatever damage that was caused to any human being and for any offense felt, especially to any of the candidates or their families, I am deeply sorry, and I pray that my apology will be accepted even by those who say they won't accept it," said Pfleger, whose comments at Trinity were first aired on YouTube.
(Al Podgorski/Sun-Times)
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Rev. Pfleger apologizes
Pfleger, who said he has committed most of his life to tearing down walls that divide, used the occasion to call for a dialogue on race and justice, and said in the days since he spoke at Trinity, he has received more than 3,000 e-mails "of hate and threats."
A security detail was present during the service.
"The last few days have been the most painful days of my life, even more so than the murder of Jarvis, my foster son," Pfleger said.
"When the world is meeting you for the first time from a dramatization in a sermon that I felt was in the sacredness of a sanctuary, among people who know me, and then find a YouTube that in no way defines the sermon or the message that I preached, nor the person or pastor that I am, it is painful.
"It is also grieving to me when a 1.5-minute YouTube video becomes the headlines across the world of papers and news stations, while the tragedy and death of earthquakes, cyclones and tornadoes that have taken the lives of people around this world, while the killing of our children across this country and here in Chicago and the easy access to guns have become stories on page 18 and 19, and while people are at my front door, looking for food to eat or gas to get to work, indeed that grieves me," he said.
Pfleger's comments came a day after Obama announced his family was withdrawing its membership at Trinity. The church's now-retired pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was previously a source of controversy that engulfed Obama's presidential campaign.
Obama said in a letter to the church, "Our relations with Trinity have been strained by the divisive statements of Rev. Wright, which sharply conflict with our own views."
Obama also reportedly had concerns about the increased scrutiny the church has had to deal with because of his run for president.
Obama said he was not denouncing Trinity, which has a new pastor, the Rev. Otis Moss III.
At Trinity on Sunday, a bulletin was distributed to members, stating, "We pray for our pastor. We pray for our member, who is a public servant; we pray for all public servants."
Pfleger told his St. Sabina flock Sunday he is imperfect, as he spoke out against racism, which he called "an explosive and sensitive sin in our world, and it is against the command to love, and against the God of love.
"If we are to move forward and become who God has called us to be as a human family, we must be willing to have an honest and open discussion on race and justice."
St. Sabina member David Griggs, who attended Pfleger's service with his wife, Tanya, and nearly 24-month-old daughter Madison, was moved by Pfleger's statements.
"I thought it was both very moving and poignant, very powerful," Griggs said. "You don't often think in a country such as ours that a person, for making a mistake, going too far, will have their life threatened. . . . In a country such as ours, I think we are better than that."
Contributing: Mary Houlihan