St. Sabina leaders say Archdiocesan investigators found the latest allegation against him lacked merit; four busloads of supporters demanded his immediate return to ministry
CHICAGO—Four school buses carrying members and supporters of the Faith Community of St. Sabina rolled into downtown Chicago Aug. 19, joining current and former elected officials, religious leaders and activists outside the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Quigley Center to demand the immediate reinstatement of Father Michael Pfleger.
Supporters filled the sidewalk outside 835 N. Rush St., chanting and holding signs as the gathering took on the feel of both a protest and a public prayer meeting.
At the center of the demonstration was a pointed claim from St. Sabina leaders: Archdiocesan investigators had already found the latest allegation against Father Pfleger baseless, yet he remains removed from ministry.
Cory Williams, executive assistant to Father Pfleger, said investigators determined the allegation “didn’t have merit” and was not based in “truth or fact,” and that the probe was closed July 23 with nothing left to investigate. He said the authority to end the standoff rests with Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago.
“Cardinal Cupich, stop playing with people’s lives,” Mr. Williams said. “He has the ultimate authority on this. He could reinstate Father Pfleger tomorrow.”
The Archdiocesan Review Board had not publicly announced a final determination as of the rally.
Mr. Williams laid out the sequence fueling supporters’ frustration: Father Pfleger was notified of the allegation July 9. The Archdiocese conducted site visits, gathered photos and video, and interviewed employees, the accuser and Father Pfleger before concluding the investigation July 23—telling him and his attorneys there was nothing more to investigate.
The Review Board received the material around July 24, met on an ad hoc basis Aug. 10 without resolution, revisited the matter Aug. 15, and held it over again for a meeting scheduled Aug. 24.
“We are kind of dumbfounded that they weren’t able to come to a conclusion,” Mr. Williams said, adding that the delay was especially troubling given investigators’ own finding that the case lacked merit.
Mr. Williams said Father Pfleger’s absence, soon to reach six consecutive Sundays, has also delayed more than $600,000 in youth-program funding he could not sign off on, and kept him from peace walks, a block party, food giveaways and the opening of St. Sabina Academy.
He stressed the demonstration was peaceful: “We are not here to violently protest or accost your employees,” he said, citing a security notice the Archdiocese had circulated to staff beforehand.
The rally came as Father Pfleger also copes with a cancer diagnosis; he finished radiation treatment July 31, writing on social media, “Easier to beat Cancer than get Justice from the Archdiocese.”
Rev. Randall K. Blakey opened the program stressing that support for Father Pfleger did not mean minimizing abuse allegations. “We take allegations of sexual abuse very seriously,” he said, adding that false allegations must be taken seriously, too. He called Father Pfleger a “drum major of justice.”
Rev. Cierra Bates-Chamberlain, executive director of Live Free Illinois, echoed that balance—“Survivors deserve compassion, protection and justice. But so does the person who is accused.”
Rev. Bates-Chamberlain noted the Review Board cleared Father Pfleger in similar investigations in 2021 and 2022, each time followed by reinstatement from Cardinal Cupich. “If Father Pfleger has been cleared, then why is his reinstatement being delayed?” she asked.
Rev. Jeannette Wilson, an attorney and senior adviser to the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, argued the repeated removals defy the presumption of innocence: “This process has been played out against Father Pfleger time after time, and each time he’s found that he was innocent in the first place.”
Rev. Dr. Iva Carruthers, general secretary emerita of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference, told the crowd they represented “thousands of faith communities around the world” and called the gathering a “public prayer meeting” set against the Archdiocese’s silence: “Silence makes a mighty noise.”
Several speakers tied the fight to Father Pfleger’s decades of service in Auburn Gresham. Former State Senator Jacqueline Collins, who called him her pastor of more than 40 years, said: “Don’t punish Father Pfleger for the sins of the Catholic Church.” She also read a statement from U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) praising his work on hunger, poverty and gun violence.
Rev. Marshall Hatch of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church drew applause from the crowd, stating, “For five decades, Father Pfleger has stood for us. And today we stand for Father Pfleger,” and argued the Archdiocese owes his restoration the same energy it gave the investigation.
Rev. Otis Moss III, senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ, placed Father Pfleger within Chicago’s civil rights history, recalling how witnessing the attack on the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Marquette Park in the 1960s shaped him as a young man. “There are some people who are priests, and there are some who are prophets,” Rev. Moss said. “But when you’ve got a priest and a prophet together, you’ve got a major thing right there.”
Rev. Mark Thompson led the crowd in song, describing Father Pfleger’s ministry—including his friendship and brotherhood with the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan—as “public theology” that extends beyond St. Sabina’s walls.
Frank J. Williams, a longtime fair housing advocate who has lived in Auburn Gresham since 1965, said he recognized in Father Pfleger’s fight echoes of his own—including a bombing at his home and federal scrutiny of his real estate business decades ago. “They could not find anything to put us out of business and make us move on,” Frank Williams said.
Asked what supporters outside St. Sabina could do, Cory Williams urged them to stay prayerful, contact the Archdiocese by letter or phone, and show up in person when possible.
Ald. David Moore, 17th Ward, invoked his home church’s teaching in appealing to Cardinal Cupich directly: “Trust, but verify. Not trust and vilify,” Ald. Moore said. “We ain’t asking you for mercy—we’re asking for grace.”
Also present at the rally was longtime activist Wallace “Gator” Bradley. The Archdiocese did not respond by Final Call press time.
