Pew Survey, Father Pfleger And The USCCB

American Life League ^ | 06.25.08 | Judie Brown

[Coleus]

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has just released its new findings on Americans and their attitudes toward religion, God and doctrine. It is not too surprising that most of those surveyed are suffering from a bit of confusion when it comes to the difference between faith in God and claiming to be somehow associated with religion.  What moved me the most about this survey was, sadly, the conundrum we face in the Catholic Church, which is actually a very good example of why the results from the Pew survey are not at all extraordinary. They may be sad, but are certainly not unexpected.

I think the best way to explain what I am trying to tell you is to quote from a recent e-mail I received from a very confused lady who happens to be a former Catholic. She wrote the following:

I am quite confused and dismayed – I have written Cardinal George – but of course got no reply! I was always taught as a Catholic that if you believed in abortion you would not be allowed Holy Communion – and that you could not support a political candidate that supports and believes in abortion – especially partial birth abortion.

So please answer me as to why a Catholic priest, Father Pfleger, is allowed to stand on the altar of God acting as Jesus and preside over Mass – how does this priest receive Holy Communion? I still want an answer regarding Fr. Pfleger! I have stopped going to church because I don't believe in our priests anymore – some are no holier than you or me!

My astonishment upon reading this was tempered by the crisis I could see and the frustration I could feel in this dear woman's words. She probably represents more Catholics than I can imagine, and her concerns and the reasons that drove her away from the Church are representative of the malaise that has affected the entire nation.  It has clearly come to pass that most people who identify themselves as religious are people who have decided that one can claim to be aligned with religion without ever attempting to live a Christian life – that is, one that is based on Christ's teachings and God's laws. If this were not the case, we would not have seen such a wide array of attitudes in this survey that, for the most part, reflect the "broadmindedness" and compromise that have become the status quo.

The day after the Pew survey results were made public, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued its own statement, which contained a quote that left me incredulous! The claim is made that "the steady and ongoing response of the Church is an ever renewed commitment to robust catechetical efforts."  I find that to be the farthest thing from the truth that anyone could imagine. If it were true that the Catholic Conference of Bishops has been pursuing "robust catechetical efforts," we would not have ladies, such as the one who e-mailed me, driven away from the Church because of the scandalous, unchecked behavior of someone like Father Michael Pfleger! Nor would we have Catholics who, according to the Pew survey, are split on abortion. Don't forget that the Catholic Church teaches that abortion is an act of murder, an act that is never justified for any reason. And yet according to that survey, 48 percent of Catholics say that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 45 percent say it should be illegal in all or most cases. It seems to me that the gospels of tolerance, diversity and equivocation have been spread much more effectively than the preaching and teaching of the Gospel of life that should have been taking place.

As I said on the day Pew issued its results, "The real enemy to the preborn, to our culture, to our nation, is the moral relativism that has our world, literally, in a death grip. That same mentality blurs the line between right and wrong and has opened the door for abortion."  The prevalence of such "relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching,' looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards," according to Pope Benedict XVI . I would have to agree with him. Clearly, America needs a reality check.  According to one man who claims to be a humanist, "God is a symbol that everybody can relate to. They look to it as a visual thing. But, actually, God is inside of them." It seems to me, upon reading the survey results, that this man's concept of God is held by more than a few of those who would not describe themselves as humanists but whose attitude toward God is equally as nebulous.  It is clear that Americans are at a crossroads today and that true faith in God and His existence is in crisis. The question is, what can one person do about it?

If it were up to me, I would beg every single person, Catholic, Protestant and Jew, who has a deep and abiding faith in God, to study the results of this survey. I would ask them to make a conscious decision to reach out to others, helping them to understand what it truly means to love God and to be aware of His love for us. Each of us has a sphere of influence and each of us can have an effect on those around us if only we are willing to reflect Christ and His goodness in our words, actions and very lives. Our nation is in need of a revival, and it can and will occur when each of us who knows and loves the truth is willing to spread it far and wide.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Though, in Fr. Pfleger’s defense, there is no evidence that he believes abortion is ok. He merely believes crimes of race are the greater evil. I’m not saying he is right, but as far as I can tell, there is no evidence he is pro-choice.

[Coleus]

I’m not saying he is right, but as far as I can tell, there is no evidence he is pro-choice. >>

if he supports 100% pro-abortion nobama and doesen’t support pro-life McLame, then I would say that he’s pro-abortion as the RCC is clear about pro-life being the higest proportionate reason when voting.

[Ransomed]

Isn’t he pro-’Bama? Or am I missing something?

Freegards

[BillyBoy]

>> Though, in Fr. Pfleger’s defense, there is no evidence that he believes abortion is ok. as far as I can tell, there is no evidence he is pro-choice. <<

How about the fact that Pfleger has spent YEARS inviting the most outspoken pro-abortion advocates into his pulpit - even though the Chicago Archdiocese has a longstanding policy explicitly forbidding the use of Church property, under ANY circumstances, by pro-abortion advocates? His "guset speakers" have included pro-abortion advocates Al Sharpton, Louis Farrakhan, Harry Belafonte, none of whom are even Catholic. If he's concerned about "civil rights", would it kill him to have some "guest speakers" in the black community who are active in civil rights, but also support the Catholic church's social values? If he's not pro-abortion, how come ALL of his guest speakers are?

Interesting coincidence, eh?

And most damning, Belafonte used the opportunity to attack President Bush for being pro-life from Pfleger's pulpit in 2003 and denounced the President for endangering a "woman's right to abortion."

What kind of priest would allow that rhetoric at HIS church unless he WAS "okay" with abortion?

[shibumi]

Here’s your evidence:

http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/jun/08061801.html

[Ann Archy]

What kind of priest would allow that rhetoric at HIS church unless he WAS "okay" with abortion?

One that is in a Black Church......NO STANDARDS...NONE!! There was NOTHING... NOTHING CATHOLIC ABOUT THAT "Mass"!! God will get him for this.

We don't have GUEST SPEAKERS.....geesh.and all the DANCING and SCREAMING and JUMPING....EGAD.

[BillyBoy]

True, I've seen dozens of Catholic churches in my life and none of them have masses anything like "Father" Pfledger's. He's already started his own church, but he's done so on property owned by the Archdiosese of Chicago.

I have seen guest speakers talk to the congregation during mass at other Catholic churches though. However those speakers had absolutely nothing in common with the kind of people that Pfledger invites into his church. The guest speakers I've seen have always been Catholics in good standing, generally visiting priests or church officials who are there to talk about some Catholic charity drive or other such thing. No priest I've ever seen would invite anyone into their church to give a political speech, and certainly not a non-Catholic politician.

[RobbyS]

He is the sort of priests who feed the likes of Pelosi with the sophistries of “personally-opposed,but...” They would not strut around ,proudly calling themselves Catholic without encouragement by many of these unfaithful priests.

[livius]

She’s absolutely right. People are scandalized by the moral relativitism that crept into the Church after Vatican II. And this all goes back to the people whose responsibility it is to teach and to preserve the Faith: the bishops. I wish the Pope would remove one, just one of them, for poor performance. Probably about half of them need to go, but since most of them are cowardly, self-serving careerists, simply the removal of even one might make the others sit up and take notice.

[Ann Archy]

there to talk about some Catholic charity drive or other such thing. No priest I've ever seen would invite anyone into their church to give a political speech, and certainly not a non-Catholic politician.

Oh yes, of course...I should have been clearer....I never consider those people speakers....I think of them as "askers".

[narses]

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[kellynla]

All we can do is hope & pray that Pope Benedict will “throw the hammer down” and start “taking out the trash!”

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

That is certainly valid evidence.

[Condor51]

IMO 'fr' Pfleger is mentally ill. Maybe manic-depressive, maybe psychotic, but none the les -- ill.

No priest in his right mind calls for the murder of a person, like Pfleger did with the owner of Chuck's Gun Shop -- located in Riverdale, IL, miles away from his parish -- when the 'good father' (sac) ....

called upon the protest crowd to 'drag' John Riggio, the owner-manager of the store, out 'like a rat' and 'snuff' him."

That got him a reprimand from the Cardinal, the Hillary comment got him 'suspended'. He should be defrocked or sent to a parish in Siberia.

[Varda]

“I have stopped going to church because I don't believe in our priests anymore”

My brother just told me he has stopped too. His small parish in Georgia has turned into illegal alien central.

I recently attended an event that severely taxed my commitment. Cardinal McCarrick and Bishop D'Arcy both spoke and seemed thrilled to be on the same dais as pro-abort/homo marriage advocate Martin Sheen. I walked out and didn't take communion at that Mass. It's a lot harder to forgive trespasses when it's your own church doing it.

[Antoninus]

From the LifeSite News article linked in shibumi's post:

American Life League President Judie Brown told LifeSiteNews that pro-life advocates have seen this problem develop for over five years, beginning when Pfleger invited Al Sharpton, an outspoken proponent of legal abortion, to give the homily in his church. (http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2003/feb/03021105.html)

"Cardinal George's response to me at that time was that we simply did not understand the complexity of the situation with Pfleger," said Brown. "I think the bottom line is that the Cardinal will do anything he possibly can to avoid conflict in the media and African-American community, many of whom attend Pfleger's church."

To me, this is code saying that either Cardinal George or the archdiocese as a whole is being blackmailed or is being intimidated by outside forces. The Lavender Mafia is still very strong in Chicago but this could also be political pressure.

Cardinal George is in a difficult situation. Pray for him.

But he also needs to hear from those of us who think that Fr. Pfleger should be kicked out permanently for his abortion advocacy. If we raise enough commotion, he'll have to act.

Here's how to contact the "Respect Life" department of the Archdiocese of Chicago. It's possible they can bring some pressure internally if they hear from enough people in Chicago and across the country:

Archdiocese of Chicago Respect Life Office contact list

[Cicero]

I feel very sorry for that poor lady, and for some freepers who have said similar things over the years.

The Church is the Church is the Church, no matter how delinquent to bishops may be, and no matter how many bad and dissident chatechists, and no matter how many heretic priests like Fr. Pfleger.

Unfortunately, the Conference of Bishops is still somewhere out in the wilderness. Their most recent statement strongly condemned abortion as an intrinsic evil—good. But it several times equated abortion with “racism”—bad.

Let’s get it straight. Racism is bad, but there are degrees of it. Even the malign racism of someone who hates blacks and says so—something I have never actually heard anyone say—is not equivalent to someone who goes around KILLING blacks. And only killing blacks is the moral equivalent of killing babies. A little stupid racism is in no way equivalent to abortion.

But the bishops, once again, have said that it is, thus offering cover to heretics like Fr. Pfleger. I said as much on the thread discussing the bishops’ latest pronouncement. There is NO DOUBT in my mind that the more liberal bishops in the conference insisted on sticking that racism clause into the document several times, for exactly that purpose—to obfuscate, and to give moral cover to their dissident Catholic pals.

But let he return to where I started. That is no reason to leave Christ’s Church, because some of His servants have betrayed Him and neglected their plain duty. Stay, and pray, and if your parish is so bad that the sacraments probably aren’t valid, go to the neighboring parish.

[Iscool]

No priest I've ever seen would invite anyone into their church to give a political speech, and certainly not a non-Catholic politician.

But yet your pope allows priests into your church (and to continue there) who 'allow' baby killers to sell their wares in your church...

And you call your pope 'Holy Father'...I'll let you in on a little secret, only to be found in the Scriptures...'Jesus would never have allowed one of his disciples to teach that killing babies was an accptable form of birth control'...

Strange religion you've got there...Certainly doesn't appeal to me...

[BillyBoy]

Since when "the Pope" personally know every priest on the planet and give his blessing for them to promote abortion? There are one billion Catholics in the world. You actually think Pope Benedict gives a thumbs up to Father Flakey's activities? The Vatican is not in the loop about Flakey and the ones giving him a slap on the wrist is the Archdiosese of Chicago and Cardinal George. Since George won't deal with the problem, we've been trying to take the case directly to the Vatican but I'm sure they have hundreds of thousands of church cases to look through.

Unless you can PERSONALLY identify every pro-abortion priest on the planet, you ought to get off your horse and stop pretending the Pope is endorsing this stuff. Since you think you can do a better job for him, please feel free to forwatd a list of every pro-abortion priest to the Vatican so you won't be "promoting" that behavior. Put up or shut up.

Since when did Father Flakey's values represent Catholics in general? 99.99999% of priests out there won't be caught dead promoting the kind of garbage he does. What religion are you in, since you want to pass judgement on my church? I'm sure we can find at least one kooky pastor in YOUR church too. Flakey doesn't "represent" Catholicism anymore than Jews United Against Zionism represents the opinions of Judiasm. They are both renegage nuts. If the Cardinal had any guts, he would have defrocked Flakey years ago.