Congregants Gather To Pray For Pfleger's Reinstatement
UPDATED 05/04/11 9:07 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Rev. Michael Pfleger is still suspended from his pastorship at St. Sabina Church, but he was back in church Tuesday night.
But this time, as CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot reports, Pfleger was only listening as parishioners prayed for him.
Church leadership said the prayer service held Tuesday tonight was to ask God for prosperity, reconciliation and protection for Pfleger.
Congregants sang songs of praise and were filled with the Holy Spirit, as they prayed for Pfleger's reinstatement.
"So we've come together here tonight to put our faith into action," said the woman leading the service.
Pfleger was present at the mass. He prayed openly but did not speak.
"I believe we all are here tonight, because we trust God enough to be willing to let God do work he is so very capable of doing," the woman leading the service said.
Pfleger was suspended from his pastoral duties at St. Sabina by Francis Cardinal George.
Earlier this year, Cardinal George asked Pfleger to consider taking over as president of nearby Leo High School after serving at St. Sabina for 30 years – far longer than the 12 years most priests typically serve at one parish.
After Pfleger said that he'd consider leaving the Catholic Church if he couldn't stay at St. Sabina, the cardinal suspended Pfleger.
For the Tuesday service, the media was asked to leave around 7:45 p.m. A parishioner said Pfleger did not speak, but the congregation continued to pray for him and the community.
Meanwhile, a full-page ad in the Chicago Sun-Times Tuesday, placed by people identifying themselves as "concerned members of the Faith Community of St. Sabina," aims, in its words, to set the record straight.
LISTEN: Newsradio 780's Regine Schlesinger reports
Podcast
The ad says Pfleger never intended to leave the church, as Cardinal George indicated in the letter in which he suspended Pfleger.
In a series of pointed questions the unnamed parishioners also raise the specter of racism, asking "are we disrespected because we are in the black community?"
