The Rev. Michael Pfleger’s initial idea for celebrating 50 years in the priesthood was simple: do nothing.
But for Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich, that was unacceptable.
“He called me up, and he said, ‘What are you doing for your 50th?’ and I said, ‘I’m not doing anything,’” Pfleger recalled as Cupich stood next to him at an anniversary celebration on Chicago’s South Side this week. “And he says, ‘You gotta do something for your 50th.’ And he’s my boss, and I always do what he says.”
The comment got a laugh from the crowd, many of them longtime parishioners at St. Sabina Church and familiar with the pastor’s penchant for bucking authority.
The outspoken priest, at the cardinal’s urging, eventually came up with an idea.
“I wanted to bless the community,” Pfleger said.
And with that, the 75-year-old Pfleger decided to host an all-day event to honor the 50th anniversary of his ordination. The church hosted a gun turn-in and gun lock giveaway throughout much of Wednesday. At noon, the church gave away 400 boxes of free food, followed by an afternoon carnival for kids in the church parking lot that featured two bouncy castles, a petting zoo and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers.
The Chicago-born priest has been a fixture at the predominantly Black St. Sabina Church — and in the Auburn Gresham community — since being assigned to the parish more than 40 years ago. Parishioners described the pastor as someone who truly practices what he preaches and expressed gratitude for his relentless dedication to social justice, which at times has put him in the national spotlight and at the center of controversy.
His dedication to activism has meant holding protests — including one that resulted in an arrest in 2007 — outside of a suburban gun shop, which later closed its doors. He led a shut down of the Dan Ryan Expressway in 2018, calling for stricter gun legislation. He has successfully called for the removal of tobacco and liquor billboards in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood and other parts of the city. He even took on “The Jerry Springer Show,” accusing it of glorifying violence for its viewers.
In 1966, when he was a teenager, Pfleger he ventured to Marquette Park to watch a civil rights protest that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. attended. Pfleger said he witnessed the hatred some of his neighbors harbored towards Dr. King — and how Dr. King responded to that hatred with love. That moment stuck with Pfleger and, he said, influenced the type of pastor he would later become.
Pfleger was assigned to lead St. Sabina Church in 1981, becoming the youngest pastor in the archdiocese. The Archdiocese of Chicago, like many American dioceses, limits a priest’s time in a parish to two consecutive six-year terms, making his long tenure at St. Sabina unusual.
Pfleger publicly sparred with Cupich’s predecessor, Cardinal Francis George, when the archdiocese attempted to transfer him to another position. George, who suspended Pfleger during their tiff, eventually backed down amid neighborhood outcry.
That community support was evident during the anniversary celebration.
“And he (is) gonna stay here another 50 years,” a woman listening to the conversation with Cupich chimed in.
“You don’t think I should move him?” Cupich asked.
“Who’s going to push me in a wheelchair?” Pfleger responded.
Throughout the day, parishioners gave Pfleger hugs and words of gratitude for his dedication over the years. One woman brought the pastor a card she signed for him.
“He (has) the heart of God. He has a really big heart. People would never believe the type of person he is,” said Annette Nance-Holt, a St. Sabina parishioner and Chicago Fire Department commissioner.
Nance-Holt lost a child to gun violence. Pfleger suffered a similar loss when his foster son Jarvis was shot and killed a few blocks from the church in 1998. It was the pastor’s dedication to stopping gun violence, Nance-Holt said, that helped her feel more connected to the priest.
“He gets so much bad stuff pointed at him a lot of times,” Nance-Holt said. “But he’s just such a wonderful person, and that’s what made me come to this church, because of what he does.”
Indeed, Pfleger is no stranger to controversy.
“I’ve had hate all my years here, hate from the gun industry, hate from the billboard industry, hate from the alcohol and tobacco industry, hate from the Holocaust Museum, hate from very conservative Catholics,” Pfleger said. “You don’t bow down to the hater, cancel what you believe in … You believe in it, stand for it and that’s gonna create hate, so what?”
Beyond the attacks towards his activism, he has also been scrutinized for some of his other remarks and actions.
In 2008, he came under fire for a sermon in which he mocked Hillary Clinton’s campaign against Barack Obama. He was asked by Cardinal George to take a disciplinary leave of absence following the remarks, but shortly returned to his parish duties. In April 2011, Pfleger was suspended from St. Sabina after he was asked to take over as the head of Leo Catholic High School. Pfleger refused and stated publicly that he’d rather leave the Catholic Church entirely than take the assignment. The suspension was lifted a month later.
In 2019, Pfleger was sharply criticized for inviting Louis Farrakhan — religious leader of the Nation of Islam — to speak at St. Sabina following Farrakhan’s ban from Facebook for previous antisemitic comments. At that event, Farrakhan said he wanted to separate “good Jews” from “Satanic Jews.” Cupich apologized for Farrakhan’s remarks and urged Pfleger to visit the Holocaust Museum. Officials of the Illinois Holocaust Museum also spoke out against Pfleger for inviting Farrakhan to speak.
In 2021, three men alleged they were sexually abused by Pfleger in the 1970s, accusations Pfleger has vehemently denied. The Archdiocese of Chicago conducted an independent investigation into the matter and cleared him of wrongdoing. Pfleger was accused again in 2022, but the archdiocese cleared him after that accusation as well.
Throughout the ups-and-downs, many parishioners at St. Sabina have stood by Pfleger’s side. The thing that keeps parishioners standing by him? His commitment to their community, they say.
“When I first met Father Mike, I thought, honestly, I just thought he was another white priest in the hood just trying to help the Black people,” said Joseph Saunders, a parishioner since 1996. “But once you get to know the man … you cannot help but love the man.”
Saunders emphasized that it’s Pfleger’s dedication to helping others that has made him a faithful follower.
Jacqueline Collins, former state senator and member of the Illinois Human Rights Commission, echoed the sentiment.
She said she joined St. Sabina in 1986. She had left the Catholic Church and was making another attempt to reconnect with her faith, but during her first service she noticed an altar dedicated to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“To come into a Catholic Church and see his altar dedicated to honoring Dr. King really impressed me,” said Collins, who also admired his commitment to social justice. Later down the line, when she was in her final year at Harvard University for graduate school, it would be Pfleger who encouraged Collins to run for the state senate.
“I wanted to work with Hillary Clinton, but he told me, ‘No, why not come back and be a witness for the community in which you live,’” Collins said. “So I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘I give you three days to pray about it.’”
Collins would go on to serve as state senator for nearly 20 years.