{"id":4297,"date":"2010-04-15T14:23:52","date_gmt":"2010-04-15T14:23:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/pfleger-apologizes.html"},"modified":"2010-04-15T14:23:52","modified_gmt":"2010-04-15T14:23:52","slug":"pfleger-apologizes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/pfleger-apologizes.html","title":{"rendered":"Pfleger apologizes"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the most controversial priests in Chicago — or in the country, for that matter — has apologized<\/a> for remarks he made in last Sunday’s homily: <\/p>\n

Rev. Michael Pfleger — the South Side priest who has often found himself at odds with the Catholic church hierarchy — has issued a written apology after saying during his sermon Sunday that priests should be allowed to marry and that the Catholic Church should ordain women as priests.<\/p>\n

In comments that he said in an interview amounted to a brief tangent in a 70-minute homily, Pfleger, the pastor at St. Sabina Catholic Church, spoke of Christ’s disciples abandoning him when he was taken away to be crucified.<\/p>\n

They ran away when he most needed them,” Pfleger told parishioners. “Only John at the foot of the cross . . . . And the women . . . Hmm. That’s why there should be women priests. That’s why there should be married priests. That’s why there should be married priests. That’s why there should be women bishops and women cardinals.”<\/p>\n

The videotaped remarks found their way online onto YouTube…<\/p>\n

…The archdiocese moved quickly to calm the mini-storm. It posted an apology Wednesday on the archdiocese Web site that read:<\/p>\n

“On Sunday, April 11, while preaching a sermon on the power of fear, I was referring to the fear that paralyzed the apostles, locking them in a room, leaving only John and the women at the foot of the cross. I stated that is why I believe women ought to be able to be ordained, as well as priests ought to be able to get married.” “While this is my personal opinion, I do respect and follow the Catholic Church teachings, and I am sorry I failed to do this.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You can see the original comments from the homily below. (All I can add is: a 70-minute homily??!!)<\/p>\n

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One of the most controversial priests in Chicago — or in the country, for that matter — has apologized for remarks he made in last Sunday’s homily: Rev. Michael Pfleger — the South Side priest who has often found himself at odds with the Catholic church hierarchy — has issued a written apology after saying…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ripped-from-the-headlines"],"yoast_head":"\nPfleger apologizes - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2010\/04\/pfleger-apologizes.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pfleger apologizes - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One of the most controversial priests in Chicago — or in the country, for that matter — has apologized for remarks he made in last Sunday’s homily: Rev. 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