Wright's Visit to Pfleger Was No Surprise

Rev. Wright made a surprise appearance to give the benediction at a Chicago area Catholic church over the weekend. But was it a surprise?

Wright, who was invited by the Rev. Michael Pfleger, gave the benediction at a church event to honor the 80th birthday of poet, Maya Angelou. Pfleger, an avid supporter of Senator Barack Obama said of Wright, “ I wanted him to come tonight as a guest because he loves Dr. Angelou and I wanted him to see the love of people for him, so when I asked him about coming he said he’s be honored to come and it was a blessing for us to have him here.” According to Pfleger, “America unfortunately has been really cheated of knowing the real Dr. Wright.”

Pfleger is not a stranger to the happenings in Chicago land churches. He has come under fire for his invitations of Louis Farrakhan to speak at his church, St. Sabina’s. The Rev. Pfleger told his congregation in May of 2007 that Farrakhan’s presence at St. Sabina’s is “only strange to people who don’t know Minister Louis Farrakhan. He’s spoken here many times and St. Sabina is a home for Louis Farrakhan.” He concluded his comments by calling Farrakhan a “gift from God to a sick, sick world.”

Several weeks after Farrakhan’s visit, Pfleger co-hosted an anti-gun rally with the Jesse Jackson lead Rainbow/Push coalition to combat the recent rash of gun crime in Chicago. Looking to incite the crowd, Father Pflegler shouted, “we’re going to snuff out John Riggio (a local gunshop owner), we're going to snuff out legislators that are voting ... against our gun laws and we're coming for you because we are not going to sit idly." When asked for clarification of his comments, Pflegler’s spokesperson said, “I've never heard that compared before with the word murder," Clark said. "He [Pfleger] was never aware of that. If that was the case he would never have used that language." After a complete investigation of the matter, Cardinal Francis George of the Archdiocese of Chicago, who has clashed with Father Pflegler over everything from doctrine to politics, remarked, ““Publicly delivering a threat against anyone’s life betrays the civil order and is morally outrageous, especially if this threat came from a priest.”

Apparently delivering a threat, supporting an anti-semite, supporting a pro-abortion politician and making threats of murder are just a day in the life of Father Michael Pfleger. So was it really a surprise that Rev. Wright showed up to a cheering throng of Farrakhan supporters.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Angelou, you deserved so much better.

Here is one of Rev. Pfleger’s rants incorporating both Wright and Farrakhan.



.