Bride upset Pfleger won't perform wedding

FATHER PFLEGER | 'One day your family member is there, one day he's not'

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St. Sabina parishiners show their support for Rev. Michael Pfleger.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)

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From a king to a twin

Late Wednesday afternoon, Pfleger moved a few of his belongings into an apartment he found close to the St. Sabina campus. "It's across the street," he told the Sun-Times by phone while his new place was being cleaned. "I bought a bed, too. American Mattress had a good deal on a twin," he said, adding that he couldn't take his bed at the rectory -- a king-size -- with him to the new place. "I went from a king to a twin."

The dress is ready, the invitations sent and travel plans are in place for out-of-town guests.

The only thing missing from Amanda Breedlove and Joey Svejda's perfect wedding day is their priest.

The couple is scheduled to be married Saturday at St. Sabina's church by the Rev. Michael Pfleger. They learned Cardinal Francis George removed Pfleger from his post on the radio Tuesday, five days before their wedding.

"It's a feeling of being robbed," Breedlove said. "One day your family member is there, one day he's not."

Pfleger wasn't at a press conference Wednesday afternoon held on the church steps minutes after the day's final school bell rang. But church leaders were there, telling reporters that George responded to two letters hand-delivered to his archdiocesan office Wednesday by agreeing to meet with them. That meeting is expected to take place today or Friday.

While Pfleger's notoriety stems from his outspokenness on guns, drugs and most recently Hillary Clinton, the day-to-day quiet operations at the parish that typically don't make headlines will suffer without him, parishioners said.

Fifty-two kindergartners, who already received their tiny caps and gowns, are scheduled to graduate Saturday. Pfleger was supposed to preside at the ceremony, as well as a special service for all graduates June 22, where Pfleger would have blessed them for a safe summer.

Janice Yokley, 77, a St. Sabina parishioner for 41 years, said Wednesday she was sorry Pfleger wouldn't be at her great-granddaughter's kindergarten graduation. The Yokley family has been involved with the church for at least three generations.

The young graduate, 5-year-old Sariyah Snowden, said she was excited to pick up her diploma and celebrate at Red Lobster after the graduation.

"There's a lot of love here," Yokley said of the church community. "(Pfleger) made it safe for people in the community to walk the streets."

Susan Burritt, spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said Pfleger's ability to perform sacraments like baptisms, reconciliation and weddings remains unchanged but he just can't perform them at St. Sabina. For the next two weeks at least, he is not allowed to minister on the St. Sabina campus, she said.

"The cardinal's request is that he step back away from the parish, back out of the media limelight and let everyone take a breather here," Burritt said.