Father Pfleger gets surprise Presidential/MLK Lifetime awards from 4 pols

Teary-eyed priest says: ‘What I do is for the children’

 

By Chinta Strausberg

 

To the total surprise to Father Michael L. Pfleger, four state lawmakers Sunday awarded him with the “President’s Life Time Service” award and a resolution thanking him for following the non-violent principles of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and for his consistent and uncompromised record of fighting for and teaching others to become “drum majors for social justice.”

Just as Father Pfleger ended his sermon and was getting ready to make his announcements, Michael Drayton, the Minister of Music, began playing an instrumental song. That was the key for Senator Jacqueline Collins (D-16^th) who is also a member of Saint Sabina, to begin reading her tribute to Pfleger.

As Collins read, the ten children began marching down the aisle each carrying a read rose for a stunned Father Pfleger whose eyes quickly welled up with tears. He accepted the roses giving each child a hug. Pfleger told the children, “What ever I do, it is for you. I love you, and I will continue to fight on your behalf….”

Following the children were Reps. Mary Flowers (D-31^st), who read the “President’s Service Award” letter from President Barack Obama, Monique D. Davis (D-27^th), who presented Pfleger with the “President’s Service” pin, and Rep. Andre M. Thapedi (D-32^nd) who gave Pfleger the “President’s Service” certificate.

Looking over at Pfleger, Collins said, “Today, as we celebrate what would have been Dr. King’s 83rd birthday. Pastor Pfleger, we want to celebrate your powerful ministry and your prophetic witness as a priest, a pastor and a preacher.

“Rev. Dr. Michael Louis Pfleger, you have truly been an advocate for social justice, non-violence and peace– in the tradition of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ the King, and of our beloved brother, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” she said as Pfleger’s eyes quickly began to tear up as he hugged and kissed the children.

Quoting Dr. King, Collins said, “Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher of consensus but a molder of consensus.  On some positions cowardice asks the question, is it safe?

Expediency asks the question, is it politic?

Vanity asks the question, is it popular?

But conscience asks the question, is it right?

“And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right,” said Collins quoting King.

“We thank you Pastor for being that type of transformational leader, a leader of courage, conviction and conscience, and one who continues to shine His light of truth on the darkness of discrimination, racism, militarism and poverty,” said the senator.

Flowers told Pfleger: “I am truly humbled and honored to be here today and to thank you for all the hard work you have done in the community and around the world.  I am truly humbled to stand in your presence and to be able to do this because you are such a great man,” said Flowers who then read the Presidential letter.

Rep. Mary Flowers (D-31^st) said, Rep. Mary Flowers told Pfleger: “I was truly humbled and honored to be here today and to be a part of this much deserved dedication of the Presidential Service Award on Dr. King birthday. It represents all the hard work you have done in the community and around the world,” said Flowers who read a copy of the Presidential letter. “I was truly humbled to stand in Father Pfleger’s presence and to be able to do this because he is such a great man,” Flowers later said.

Rep. Monique D. Davis (D-27^th), who also praised Pfleger for his long and consistent social justice agenda that closely follows that of Dr. King’s non-violence principles, read a section from Dr. King’s famous April 16, 1963 Birmingham Jail letter.

“Perhaps I have once again been too optimistic,” Davis read. “Is organized religion too inextricably bound to the status quo to save our nation and the world? Perhaps I must turn my faith to the inner spiritual church, the church within the church, as the true ekklesia and the hope of the world.

“But again I am thankful to God that some noble souls from the ranks of organized religion have broken loose from the paralyzing chains of conformity and joined us as active partners in the struggle for freedom. They have left their secure congregations and walked the streets of Albany, Georgia, with us. They have gone down the highways of the South on tortuous rides for freedom.

“Yes, they have gone to jail with us. Some have been dismissed from their churches; have lost the support of their bishops and fellow ministers. But they have acted in the faith that right defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. Their witness has been the spiritual salt that has preserved the true meaning of the gospel in these troubled times. They have carved a tunnel of hope through the dark mountain of disappointment. “

Davis said she felt these paragraphs of the Birmingham jail letter was appropriate for Sunday’s dedication to Pfleger because “he has withstood the barbs of the media, criticism from his superiors; yet he continues to fight for the betterment of his community…. He adopted children though he was told not to. He’s fought to get good schools for the children…fought the negative billboards and tobacco companies….

“His arms are stretched so wide to help, support, guide and to be a spiritual force in the black community,” said Davis. “Everybody is welcome at this church. He is the spiritual leader that Dr. King was looking for because it was Dr. King who said in order to overcome these spiritual attacks; we need leaders who are not afraid to not conform to the rest of the religious community.

“Ever since Father Pfleger has been at Saint Sabina, he has tried to make it better…. He is exactly what Dr. King was looking for and through it all Father Pfleger has remained steadfast. The truth is the majority spiritual leaders should be following Father Pfleger instead of condemning him. If they did that, look at how far ahead we would be,” said Davis with tears in her eyes.

In presenting Father Pfleger with the President’s Service Award, Thapedi told Pfleger that he has been a source of inspiration to him over the years especially his consistency and commitment in fighting crime, illegal guns and the increased violence in the community.

Tapedi said Pfleger’s passion and long-standing record in fighting the social ills of our society “is second to none and that is why he has been an inspiration to me in dealing with the weapons issue.”

As an example of the roadblocks he faces in Springfield, Thapedi said both the NRA and the Illinois State Rifle Associations are very powerful lobby groups and that Pfleger “has consistently taken a position against their belief that weapons should just be spread out throughout the streets. That is where he has given me the strength” to continue opposing these gun groups.

The award, Thapedi said, is especially important not just because he has a connection to Dr. King himself being a Morehouse graduate but that Sunday was not only Dr. King’s 83^rd birthday but more important King is one of the most famous alumnus of Morehouse College.

In presenting the President’s Service Award to Pfleger, Thapedi said, “It’s consistent in what you have been doing for years.”

Pfleger thanked the lawmakers for the awards and turned and faced the children saying, “What ever I do, it is always for you. I will continue to fight on your behalf. You are our future….”

Earlier during his sermon, Pfleger, who is a priest today because as a teen he witnessed his neighbors throwing rocks, cursing and spitting at Dr. King during the infamous Marquette Park march, asked the church, “Who occupies your mind”?

He challenged them to help those who are less fortunate and not walk by and ignore the homeless and others who are downtrodden. He asked them to be the first “in reaching out to somebody that everybody else has pushed aside…first to everybody out there who feels like they are lost….”

He also asked them to “give your all to your purpose…. If you don’t understand your purpose…if you don’t acknowledge and recognize and live in and walk in your purpose, then you risk being abused by people who don’t know who you are.”

To the women, he said, “When you walk in the dignity of who you are, somebody can’t treat you like a tramp. When a brother walks around with his pants up and his shoulders back and a book because he’s on his way to school, somebody can’t treat you as less than what you are because you know who you are.

“You demand respect by the way you walk, by the way you talk, by the way you act, but people will abuse you because you’re out of purpose. That’s what they did with Jesus. They didn’t know who he was and they abused him, killed him and that is why when he was on the cross he said, ‘Father forgive them they do not know what they’re doing.’

“What is even worse than somebody abusing you because they do know your value and your worth…what is worse is you’re busing yourself…abusing your own gifts, talents and time? You are so awesome and so valuable; you don’t have time to waste time. I’m on my way somewhere…to dignity, to the purpose…. don’t have time to waste time because I have to use my time,” Pfleger said.

He gave the following principles for getting your life together: 

1.   Believe that God has a plan for you.

Stop being so frustrated. God has a plan for you

2.   God made you unique for a purpose.

Every child is unique…different….

3.   Look at your passion inside of you and embrace your passion…. Don’t try to do

what is not your passion. You can’t say you want to be a doctor but you throw up when you see blood…. You can’t say you want to be a teacher and hate kids.

4.   Look at your past history and your background…

the things you went through. God is going to use your background for something for his kingdom business. Nobody can best minister to somebody who has been in drugs but somebody who was in drugs and understands it….”

Pfleger looked out in the audience and spotted 17-year-old Ondelee Perteet who in 2009 was shot leaving him paralyzed. On January 8, 2012, Pfleger honored him with the “Blue Heart Award,” but last Sunday predicted that one day the wheelchair-bound youth will once again walk. He told him, “You are ministering to more people now in that wheelchair than you ever did as a high school student because now young people are listening to you.” Pfleger said God is using Perteet.

5.   Take time to understand the things and wrestle what’s in your heart what is important to you.

6.   Is there something that you always wanted to do but didn’t think you had time or money for? Do it, Pfleger said. “Don’t let your dreams dry up like a raisin in the sun…. Make time for it….”

7.   Take time to look at your wants and God’s calling and remember whose life it is. It’s about Him, not you.”

8.   If there is somebody doing what you’re drawn to, learn from them. Don’t hate on success, learn from it. Pfleger said when he first came to Saint Sabina, he called on successful pastors like Rev. Clay Evans, Rev. Jeremiah Wright and calls people like Cornel West, Wright, Harry Belafonte to teach him what they went through including the late Coretta Scott King.

    9.  Ask yourself the question, do you want to be successful

         or do you want to be significant? “Significant people leave

         imprints for generations to talk about” like

         Dr. King…Mother Theresa…. We’re still talking

         about Jesus.”

10. Learn the power of being content. “You have to come

to a point in your life where you say, ‘I’m cool with me.’” “Work what you got….”

Pfleger reflected on Dr. King’s birthday. He told of how King’s wife, Coretta told him the day when a committee asked him to lead the Montgomery Bus boycott. “He used the gifts God gave him..oratorical…organizational gifts. He did not try to fit into the traditional church.

“The traditional church hated him,” said Pfleger reminded the church when King came to Chicago the “ministers boycotted him” and how he was ostracized when he opposed the Vietnam War. “They turned on him after April 4, 1967 when he spoke at Riverside Church and condemned the Vietnam War and they said stay out of white people’s business.”

King, Pfleger said, could have had a mega church but instead “he had a mega impact.” Pfleger said his choice cost him a great deal of pain and in the end he paid the ultimate price, his life.

Pfleger said Dr. King was not a materialistic man rather he gave the money he made form his Nobel Peace Prize to the movement, and when he was killed on April 4, 1968, he said Mrs. King screamed “when they were letting his body down at the airport” not because of her grief.

“She told me, ‘Michael, my son, it was not the grief that was tearing me apart at that moment. I had grieved in Memphis. I knew I had to be strong for the movement and my family, but what made me crack was that I realized we didn’t have money to bury him. We had no insurance.”

Pfleger said that is why today he will stand up for Harry Belafonte blasting a Rev. Long for blocking the actor from speaking at Mrs. King’s funeral. “It was Harry Belafonte who paid for her funeral.”

While a band member played “Amazing Grace,” which was the last long Dr. King had asked musician Ben Branch to play moments before he was shot, Pfleger said, “Dr. Martin Luther King was one of the greatest prophets this nation has every known. At 39-years old, he was killed like Jesus who was hated by the government and by the church. Martin was hated by the government and by the church.

“Martin Luther King decided now that we’ve changed laws now what we got to do is to change the economic structure. Martin Luther King began the Occupy Movement before they called it an Occupy Movement. He occupied in 1963. He was getting ready to occupy Washington in 1968 with the march and the war against poverty….”

Last Friday, Pfleger was supposed to speak at a synagogue. “The Rabbi called me Friday morning and said, ‘Father Mike, I don’t know how to say this. Some of my congregants are concerned. Some folks are supposed to protest your being at the synagogue tonight.’ “I said, ‘Oh.’”

The Rabbi said, “I believe in you. I support you. I’m with you, and I waned to just stand up and say we’re going to have them but I did not want the emphasis to be more on you than on Dr. King and non-violence which is the real issue.” Pfleger said he wasn’t going to let the Rabbi off easy. He knew he was being disinvited just like Belafonte who was supposed to speak at Coretta Scott King’s funeral. The Rabbi disinvited him. “I said, OK, Rabbi. Shalom….”

Ironically, Pfleger’s other friend, Tavis Smiley, was also disinvited from being the speaker at the annual Martin Luther King Luncheon that was held on January 16, 2012 at the Peoria Civic Center. Michael Eric Dyson took his place. Dr. Barbara Penelton, a retired Bradley University professor and her book club, objected to Smiley, who has criticized Obama, saying they would rather give their money to President Obama’s re-election campaign.

Pfleger said Dr. Cornel West was also disinvited to an event. “It’s rough out here,” Pfleger said to the church. “My view on Israel and my friendship with Farrakhan was the issue. I’m just too radical. Wow”! “Challenge becomes an opportunity,” Pfleger said.

He told the youth of the church, “Don’t let anybody ever tell you that you can’t speak…. Don’t let anybody put you down because of your youth…. Mary was a teenage pregnant woman…. You’re the future, the hope. You are getting ready to turn this world upside down in order to get it right side up….” He urged them to be fearless drum majors for justice.

Later Monday, January 16, 2012, Pfleger joined other civil rights leaders including the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. at an Occupy movement protest in the Loop.

Chinta Strausberg is a Journalist of more than 33-years, a former political reporter and a current PCC Network talk show host. You can e-mail Strausberg at: Chintabernie@aol.com.