As a Catholic I am morally bound to Church teaching when it comes to matters of faith and morals. I am thus subject to the Bishop of Rome and my local bishop as duly appointed Shepherds of the flock to which I belong. I am free however to question and even criticize, respectfully of course church the way the non-doctrinal aspects of the church are administered.
I had to get that in as I am about to go on rant against how the church is being administered in a particular situation.
That Particular situation is that of Reverend Pfleger ( I still cannot bring myself to call him Father) The response from Francis Cardinal George the Archbishop in charge of the Archdiocese of Chicago where all this is taking place is at the very least troublesome to me.
I use the following article as my reference; Article
My question is, Has the Child abuse scandal not taught the Church in the United States anything? Please understand that I am not trying to compare the evils of Child sexual abuse to the political ratings of a priest, but there are parallels that I will draw out here. For one the way the abusive Priests were reassigned (based in many cases on the advice of Medical Professionals, which is not an excuse but it a mitigating circumstance) proved to be a disaster of Church administration and resulted in many people leaving the faith and even rejecting God altogether.
The response of the Archbishop has been to Ask, not order, Reverend Pfleger to take time of, Two weeks to be exact. Here is the problem. Apparently Reverend Pfleger has a history of such political astaticism, which is itself problematic as it is against Church practice to endorse political candidates or movements. It is only when one of these rants makes national headlines that the Archbishop decides to ask, not order, the Reverend to take time of, two weeks to be exact. A case can be made here that this Reverends rants have caused grave damage to the faithful. He has endorsed a political candidate that is Pro abortion to the point that he stood in the way of protecting the survivors of Botched abortions already this is grounds for excommunication (far better in my view than asking, not ordering time off, two weeks to be exact).
The article also shows the reaction of the parishioners in support of the Reverend. This is also problematic since one attends mass to Worship Jesus not to offer cult to any one person even the priest presiding. The other problem I have is some of these people are talking of starting another church or joining what ever church the reverend may start, again indicating that whatever this Reverend was preaching from the pulpit was not Catholicism but something more akin to the liberation Theology preached In Obama’s church.
I understand that the Church has to be pastoral when dealing with its members. Unfortunately is seems these days that being pastoral is simply an excuse for being a decanting catholic. Being pastoral means bringing the Flock Jesus entrusted to you to his teachings not leading them away from them. True Catholic Pastors Preach the truth of Jesus that sets one free, not the political garbage we heard from Reverend Pfleger that only enslaves people to the lies of racial politics.
