Humboldt Park Pastor To Run For Mayor
CHICAGO (CBS) - An Evangelical Christian pastor from the Humboldt Park neighborhood is the latest to announce plans to run for mayor.
CBS 2 Political Producer Ed Marshall reports mayoral election campaign papers were filed for the Rev. Wilfredo De Jesus Wednesday morning.
De Jesus is pastor of New Life Covenant Church, which meets at Clemente High School, at 1147 N. Western Ave. in the Humboldt Park neighborhood.
Mayoral campaign election papers were just filed by Rev. Wilfredo DeJesus of New Life Covenant Church.
A spokesman for De Jesus previously said he would make an announcement Thursday.
The Web site for the church says De Jesus began his spiritual journey when he was given a summer job as a young teenager in the 1970s through a city-operated placement service, and was assigned to work in a church.
De Jesus reported having a conversion experience at the church, and ended up becoming senior pastor in 2000. Since then, the church has grown in weekly attendance from 120 to 4,000, and De Jesus has launched two new churches in Chicago and a third in Chimbote, Peru, according to the church Web site.
The Web site also credits De Jesus as being "instrumental" in the development of a number of community-based programs, including New Life Family Services, which operates the River of Life homeless shelter for women and children; the Chicago Master's Commission, a religious program for college-age students; and Gangs to Grace, a ministry "effective in reaching gang members for Christ." The church also operates the Chicago Dream Center for homeless women.
But De Jesus has drawn his share of controversy. When Ald. Billy Ocasio (26th) left the City Council last year to become a senior adviser to Gov. Pat Quinn, he recommended that Mayor Richard M. Daley appoint Ocasio to the vacant aldermanic seat.
This infuriated gay rights activists, who took issue with the views of De Jesus' church on homosexuality. They pointed to messages issued by the church that equate homosexuality with drug addiction and other social ills.
For example, one essay on the church Web site describes helping "a brother who is struggling to overcome addictions, lust, depression, loneliness, pride, anger, greed, homosexuality, or illness."
De Jesus was also quoted in the newspaper Christianity Today in 2008 that "opposing abortion and homosexuality have been the paramount moral issues for him."
At the time, activists worried that De Jesus would be able to control funds for agencies serving gay clients and shape debates on such issues as same-sex marriage.
But De Jesus said at the time that his church opposes homosexuality because of its belief in the literal authority of the Bible, and he said it would not have an impact on his policymaking.
Ultimately, Ocasio withdrew his pick of De Jesus, after he turned out to be ineligible because he had not lived in the 26th Ward for a full year at the time. Then-Cook County Commissioner Roberto Maldonado was ultimately appointed to the post.
Dozens of candidates have lined up since Mayor Daley announced last month that he will not run for reelection.
CBS 2 Political Producer Ed Marshall contributed to this report.
