Pfleger benched again amid another decades-old sexual abuse claim

For the second time in less than two years, the Rev. Michael Pfleger is stepping away from his popular ministry while under investigation for a decades-old sexual abuse allegation, the Archdiocese of Chicago confirmed Saturday.

In the latest allegation, a man in his late 40s has filed a claim with the archdiocese alleging the long-tenured activist South Side priest sexually abused him at St. Sabina Church in the late 1980s.

The man’s attorney, Eugene Hollander, said his client was a member of the acclaimed Soul Children of Chicago choir when the alleged incidents occurred on two separate occasions in the church rectory. The choir rehearsed at St. Sabina once or twice a week, the attorney said.

The boy was a minor, between the ages 13 and 17 at the time. Hollander declined to provide further details Saturday while the archdiocese investigation is ongoing.

Pfleger, 73, has stepped aside from his day-to-day church duties. Cardinal Blase Cupich also is requiring him to live away from the Auburn Gresham parish while the civil matter is investigated by the archdiocese’s independent review board. Such moves are in keeping with archdiocese policies.

“He has agreed to cooperate fully with this request,” Cupich said of Pfleger in an Oct. 15 letter to St. Sabina parishioners posted on the church’s website Saturday. “As is required by our child protection policies, the allegation was reported to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and the law enforcement officials. The person making the allegation has been offered the services of our victim assistance ministry and the archdiocese has begun its investigation and we will do our best to keep you informed.”

Pfleger is not facing criminal charges. Neither he nor his attorneys immediately responded Saturday to Tribune requests for comment but Pfleger released a statement posted on St. Sabina’s website in which he said he learned of the allegation Friday and has been “removed from all public ministry while they investigate again.” He maintained his innocence.

“Let me be clear,” he wrote, “I am completely innocent of this accusation.”

He was sidelined from his ministry for several months in early 2021 after two adult brothers filed claims accusing Pfleger of decades-old abuse. The priest returned to St. Sabina that summer after the review panel found “insufficient reason to suspect” that the passionate anti-violence advocate was guilty of the allegations.

The two brothers, in their 60s and living in Texas, had alleged in the 2021 claims to the archdiocese that they were molested over several years beginning in the 1970s at Precious Blood Catholic Church on Chicago’s West Side when Pfleger was a seminarian, and the brothers were members of the choir. The abuse continued, the brothers said, when Pfleger was a deacon at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Parish in Glenview and at St. Sabina.

A third man came forward months after the two brothers to say Pfleger made an unwanted sexual advance toward him as well, when he was 18 in 1979. That man did not file a claim with the archdiocese, given the fact he was no longer a minor at 18, but he did submit an affidavit shared with church officials in support of the two brothers.

Pfleger maintained his innocence at the time and his legal team said the allegations were false, concocted in hopes of receiving a financial statement.

In a May 2021 letter, following the review board’s decision, Cupich told St. Sabina parishioners that their longtime priest would be returning as senior pastor. Cupich, at the time, wrote: “The review board has concluded that there is insufficient reason to suspect Father Pfleger is guilty of these allegations.”

Pfleger celebrated his return in a Sunday morning service on June 6, 2021 with standing ovations, exclamations of support and worship. He repeatedly thanked his faithful supporters throughout the nearly three-hour service. His parishioners had rallied behind him, including when St. Sabina announced in late February 2021 it was withholding $100,000 in monthly assessments to the archdiocese until it completed its investigation.

Inspired to become a priest by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr, Pfleger as a young seminarian student chose to live and work in the predominantly Black community at Precious Blood while commuting to a Mundelein seminary for classes, according to his online biography and Tribune archives. He was ordained in 1975. For decades, the firebrand white minister has led Chicago’s largest Black Catholic parish and crusaded against racism and poverty.

Hollander also represented the two Texas brothers. And he previously represented some victims of defrocked priest Daniel McCormack in an infamous abuse case that helped lead to an overhaul of Chicago church policy.

In his Saturday statement, Pfleger asked his supporters to pray for him.

“Unfortunately, the process of the Archdiocese today is that a priest is presumed guilty until proven innocent. Priests are vulnerable targets to anyone at any time.”

He continued: “While I am confident that the new allegation will also be determined to be unfounded, the process is so unfair and painful to me and to the community I serve.”

cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com