Father Michael Pfleger Steps Aside from St. Sabina Amid New Sex Abuse Allegation

Father Michael Pfleger has been asked to step aside from his post at St. Sabina Catholic Church after the Archdiocese of Chicago received an allegation that he sexually abused a minor at the parish more than three decades ago.

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich told the St. Sabina community in a letter Saturday that the archdiocese's Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review had received the allegation. Cupich said that under the archdiocese's child protection policies, he asked Pfleger to step aside from ministry and live away from the parish while the claim is investigated. Cupich said the alleged abuse occurred at St. Sabina sometime between 1993 and 1995. He also said Pfleger has strongly denied the allegation.

"As your parish has been through this before, I can well understand your distress in learning of this development," Cupich wrote. "I appreciate your patience and ask you to recall that our process of investigation and making a determination has proven effective in protecting the rights of all. During this time, I assure you of my prayers."

Pfleger, who has led St. Sabina on the South Side for 44 years, responded with a lengthy statement sent directly to reporters, rejecting the allegation outright. He said he learned of the accusation on July 9 through a call from the Vicar for Priests, who told him a woman who said she attended school at St. Sabina claimed he had sexually abused her sometime between 1993 and 1995.

"First, this is an absolute lie," Pfleger said. "I have no memory of this girl nor do countless others who have been at St. Sabina for those years. The statement she has supposedly made is absolutely not true, and the facts will show that this is just an attempt by someone who is either being unfairly manipulated by others to hurt my reputation, or who is simply trying to make money by making false accusations."

Pfleger, 76, said he has faced threats and attacks throughout his 51 years in ministry, including two prior suspensions tied to what he described as unfounded accusations. He pointed to his history of speaking out against racism, gun violence and the policies of President Donald Trump, and to his friendship with Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, as sources of what he called ongoing hostility toward him. He said he receives hate calls and emails weekly, including a wave last week after he washed the feet of representatives from several minority communities during a service and apologized for the persecution they have faced in the United States.

"I have been under constant attack by the present administration which I have vocally condemned as unlawful, racist and wicked. For this I will not apologize," Pfleger said.

Pfleger also criticized how the archdiocese handles abuse allegations against priests generally, arguing the process removes a priest from ministry before any investigation or conversation takes place. "Let me be clear, sexual abuse is wrong and I realize that the Catholic Church has a long history of not dealing with accusations and has spent a number of years putting strong policies in place, but I have said countless times I believe the current policy is wrong and unfair to the accused priest," he said, adding that he would not stay silent while his name, ministry and church are "slandered or defamed."

This is not the first time Pfleger has faced abuse allegations. In 2022, a Chicago attorney filed a claim with the archdiocese alleging Pfleger abused his client when the client was a minor in the late 1980s. Pfleger stepped aside during that investigation and was later reinstated. Before that, three separate men accused Pfleger of sexual abuse, prompting an archdiocese investigation that began in 2021. He returned to the church that June after the archdiocese determined those allegations were unfounded.

St. Sabina, at 78th Street and Throop Street in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood, has been the base for Pfleger's public activism for decades, including his campaigns against gun violence and his confrontations with gun shops and liquor stores he blamed for harming the community. The archdiocese reinstated Pfleger each time after clearing him in the previous allegations.

Cupich's letter did not set a timeline for how long the current investigation will take or say who will lead the parish while Pfleger is away. The archdiocese's Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review will handle the inquiry, following the same process used in the 2021 and 2022 cases. No date has been set for when that review will conclude or when Pfleger, if cleared, would return to the pulpit he has held since 1981.