[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 79 (Thursday, May 21, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E783]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRATULATING REV. DR. MICHAEL L. PFLEGER ON HIS 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF 
                             THE PRIESTHOOD

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. DANNY K. DAVIS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 21, 2015

  Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my 
congratulations to Rev. Dr. Michael Louis Pfleger, the Senior Pastor at 
Saint Sabina Church in Chicago on his 40th Anniversary of the 
priesthood. I am sincerely thankful for the forty years of his devotion 
to community service and endless effort in fighting social injustice.
  Michael Louis Pfleger was ordained a Catholic Priest for the Roman 
Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago on May 14, 1975 and since 1981 has been 
Pastor of the mostly African American Parish of Saint Sabina, a 
Catholic church in Chicago's Auburn Gresham Neighborhood. His 
uninterrupted tenure in just one neighborhood is normally unheard of in 
a diocese where Pastors usually serve for only six to twelve years. 
When he was appointed to his present position, at the age of 31, he 
became the youngest Pastor in Chicago Archdiocese. Under Pfleger's 
leadership, Saint Sabina has established an outstanding social service 
program including job programs, conflict resolution, Employment 
Resource Center, a Social Service Center, and also an elder home.
  Father Pfleger has adopted three sons, and led efforts to curb drug 
and alcohol use, especially among teenagers. He has led protests of all 
kind, encourages people to register and vote, take positions on all 
kind of controversial issues, always on the side of the people. He has 
fought against the proliferation of hand guns and hold regular lecture 
series at Saint Sabina featuring individuals like Reverend Jesse 
Jackson, Reverend Al Sharpton, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, Dick Gregory, 
Minister Louis Farrakhan, Reverend Joseph Lowery, Harry Belafonte and 
others. He has called out disrespectful rappers, embraced salvation for 
prostitutes, defied the Cardinal and pushed for the Ordination of women 
as Priests. Michael Louis Pfleger, a man among men, a Priest among 
Priests, a force for good, a friend to humanity, my brother and a 
Servant of God.

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