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	Gospel of Derision Sullies Rebel Priest By Carol Marin Chicago Sun-Times June 1, 2008 http://www.suntimes.com/news/marin/980609,CST-EDT-carol01.article Barack Obama had no choice Saturday but to resign from the church he loves. I'm so mad at Mike Pfleger. The prophetic pastor of St. Sabina Catholic Church is a genuine man of God, a fine priest even if the Chicago Archdiocese never thought so, and someone who has made a vast difference in the lives of people in this city. That having been said, what the heck was he thinking when he went to preach at Trinity United Church of Christ last Sunday? When he mocked Hillary Clinton, parodying her voice to say, "I'm white, I'm entitled. There's a black man stealing my show." And what were the good people in the pews of Trinity thinking as many, I don't know how many, laughed and cheered the Rev. Pfleger on? Trinity has been deeply wounded by the press coverage of its fiery former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Hurt that some of his sermons on race and religion became a volatile campaign problem for Barack Obama, a 20-year member of Trinity. And saddened that the church's sizable accomplishments would be eclipsed as a result. These two great African-American congregations, St. Sabina and Trinity, are within four miles of each other on Chicago's South Side. Under the leadership of Pfleger and Wright, there now exists a wide menu of social services, education and elderly support. Through it all, each church's mission statement sings the gospel of love, of healing divisions, of fighting injustice. Where exactly does the gospel of derision, of demonization, fit in that scheme? I'm not the only one struggling for an answer on this. Dwight Hopkins is, too. I turned to him Thursday night because he is not only a nationally respected University of Chicago theologian and minister in his own right but also a member of Trinity. Though not present for the Pfleger sermon, he and I had both watched excerpts of it on the Internet where it is still being played wall to wall. "I was stunned," Hopkins said. "What makes a Christian a Christian -- I didn't see it." Hopkins has, of late, been the eloquent explainer of some of the differences between black and white churches, of how in black preaching there is a "ritual of performance . . . where the preacher and the congregation shift to an outrageous realm." Pfleger, though white, mastered the outrageous realm long ago. And most of the time, it served him well. He is beloved in his parish and respected by Mayor Daley, and he has won over many of his critics, myself included, by his commitment. There was a time when I viewed Pfleger as a grandstander, a self-promoter. And he can be. But dig deeper, and you find a guy who, according to the story his childhood friends tell, was practicing how to give out communion in the family basement when he was just a kid. Someone who always wanted to be a priest. Someone who found a mentor in Monsignor Jack Egan, the scrappy, activist priest whom the unlovable Cardinal John Cody once banished from Chicago. Egan would be furious with Pfleger. A fighter for civil rights his entire life, Egan would have been appalled at race-based ridicule. But in addition, he would be furious at Pfleger for giving the archdiocese the ammunition to get rid of him, something Cardinal Francis George has made no secret of wanting to do. Pfleger has been fearless in critiquing the church for its own politics. And for its handling of the pedophile crisis. The church, which has inexplicably rewarded Boston's disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law with one of the largest basilicas in Rome, hasn't been able to countenance this rebel with a cause. Though Pfleger immediately apologized, it's too late. He shoved a stick in the cardinal's eye, undercut his mission and ignored 1 Corinthians 13:1: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal."
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