Chicago parish fiercely backs priest after sex abuse claims
Parishioners from the Black Catholic church have flooded the archdiocese’s phone lines, threatened to withhold $100K in monthly dues and sent 1,300 letters in defense of priest Michael Pfleger
Pam Bosley contacted ministers around Chicago, hoping someone would help make sense of it.
Only one wrote back.
Michael Pfleger, a charismatic priest of a thriving Black Catholic parish, inspired her to become an activist and recruited her to run his South Side church’s violence prevention office.
Stories like Bosley’s are recurrent at St. Sabina Church, a close-knit community that’s been a social activism hub for 40 years under Pfleger. But the white priest’s job, his reputation in a Black community that’s long respected him, and the parish’s future are in jeopardy because three men — two who are Black and the third whose race hasn’t been made public — have accused him of sexually abusing them decades ago.