. . . as said of “several” priests cited bafflingly by Sun-Timeswoman Hogan-slash-Albach:

What’s so “perplexing” about what the cardinal said? Isn’t it more perplexing that Pfleger used “snuff” and didn’t know what it meant on the street? Yeah, very, very, VERY strange. Now we’re gonna make the NRA the bad guys?

says a faithful reader.  Another, however, is not convinced:

i believe that he didn’t know what “snuff” means.. i think he used it in a way that indicates that…  you know he doesn’t want to kill anyone… he’s eccentric but not amoral.

I, on the other hand, am baffled by that comment.  What Father P. is or isn’t is not at issue, but what he said and what he believed about what he said.  Deep mystery here — not Trinity-doctrine-deep but still deep — as to why a holy priest of God would talk that way.  But let us leave it at that and not rush to judgment in either direction.

Meanwhile, the perhaps also baffled Cardinal George issues A STATEMENT!  Thank God for statements, which get things finally before the public and substitute, no matter how lamely, for face-to-face meeting and confident exercise of episcopal authority.

Again, however, credit Sun-Times, which broke the sacred noosepaper silence in the matter, while Chi Trib remains haughtily above the fray, unwilling to get its hands soiled.  Aren’t they sweet?

Cardinal George finally said something about Fr. Pfleger, who called for people to “snuff out” a gun store owner — to the public but not to Pfleger. 

He called Pfleger’s call to action at an anti-gun rally “[betrayal of] the civil order and . . . morally outrageous,” which is tough talk in some circles but sure to make no difference.  (full statement below)

He didn’t even tell Pfleger personally, says P., and oh my, does that not say volumes about the state of holy obedience in the archdiocese.  Nor did any of his aides on Superior Street, including his chancellor, Jimmy Lago, who calls the shots anyway, says Tom Roeser.

Pfleger continues to say he didn’t know what “snuff” means in his neighborhood, which is extremely odd.  In fact, it’s very hard to believe.  Not quite impossible but very, very, VERY hard.

The Sun-Times religion writer, having ignored the matter until George issued a statement (give G. credit, he got this in the Sun-Times but couldn’t make it into Chi Trib, which remains above the fray), cited “several of the archdiocese’s priests [who] said privately they were baffled by the cardinal’s statement.”

Oh?  In what respect?  Baffled?  Religion reporter Susan Hogan-slash-Albach is apparently also baffled but does not exercise her journalistic right or fulfill her obligation to inquire further.

She does, however, immediately note that George’s spokeswoman, Colleen Dolan, “said the cardinal wasn’t bowing to pressure from members of gun associations.”  Oh?  Someone said that? 

I’d prefer to think he’s bowing to pressure from Tom Roeser.

=================

On Saturday, May 26, 2007, during an anti-gun rally at a Riverdale gun shop, Fr. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina parish, reportedly made aggressive and inappropriate statements threatening the store’s owner.

If the comments reported are accurate, and a threat was made, it is up to the civil authorities to investigate the matter and determine what if any action should be taken against Fr. Pfleger.

Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I., Archbishop of Chicago, stated, “publicly delivering a threat against anyone’s life betrays the civil order and is morally outrageous, especially if this threat came from a priest. It is first of all up to the civil authorities to determine what threat might have been contained in the remarks attributed to Fr. Michael Pfleger. With that determination, the sponsors of the anti-gun rally and the Archdiocese can better decide how to respond.”

— from Archdiocese at its site as of 6/10/07

Chi Trib with p-1 sob story that supports lib editors’ position on immigration.  Do they ever go with a sober assessment based on greatest good for greatest number?

Plus, “immigration reform”?  In whose playbook?  The 300–plus–page bill’s supporters’.

Obama plays race card with “Obama warns of black ‘quiet riot’: Rare speech on race decries hopelessness.”  He’s a climber, I told the lady of our house.  Punk, I’m telling you.

Cormac McCarthy doesn’t care how many read his books: He should be disbarred as a writer.  My books sold so few, it’s pitiful, but I lit a candle of thanksgiving for every one and would be glad to tell O. Winfrey any day, if she would only listen.

And how about those AP stories about the indicted La. congressman that don’t say he’s a Dem?  Not today in Chi Trib, where we have five inches on p-9, top left in home delivery hard copy, also AP, with its (D-La.).  About time.

Later: Note Dennis Byrne’s discovery of this as recurring phenomenon last April, at his Barber Shop blog.

Tom Roeser tears into the archdiocese of Chicago for its toleration of Father Pfleger, the “snuff” priest, calls him “incendiary”:

Asking the archdiocese to take action is like pleading a cause to the deaf and dumb church officialdom which covers eyes and ears with heavily ringed hands to hear no evil, see no evil. The archdiocese has been notable for having a collective clerical spine the consistency of Jello pudding.

He blames the chancellor, Jimmy Lago:

Anyone who suspects that [Hillary C. recently making a campaign stop at Mercy Home] just happened to “slip by unnoticed” from this Roman Catholic chancery is a hopeless naïf. Not when the Chancellor is noted for his past as an outstanding 10th ward Democratic precinct captain.

The chancellor, layman Jimmy Lago (Jimmy being his baptized name, not James) was Ed Vrdolyak’s best Democratic precinct captain in the 10th ward when Ed was committeeman, alderman and chairman of the Cook county Democratic party. And while Vrdolyak changed his party, no one is imagining that Jimmy-who marched with that other icon of liberal protest, Caesar Chavez-has.

Now what?

Now that Pfleger has espoused murder, will the Chancery act? The normal expectation is that, rooted in fright and cowed by a mélange of Democratic politicians surrounded by its ex-Cook county Democratic Precinct Captain Chancellor, it will not.

If it does not act, violence breaks out in Riverdale or elsewhere that suits Pfleger’s demagogic mood, blood will be on the chancery’s hands. And on the newspaper print media which, content to inveigh against “hate speech,” shrinks from the task of condemning this flamboyantly irresponsible emotionally erratic blond cleric who has been carried away with his own celebrity, savoring as he salaciously does the cheers of an unruly, violence-prone mob.

Well, Chancellor Lago; since you’re in charge, since you’re running things, it’s now your move.

Fighting words.  No wonder the Roeser web site has a warning:

Defamatory comments will not be tolerated and the individuals who post such comments will be turned over to authorities. Our “reader comments” system allows us to track IP addresses and we intend to collect as much information on posters as we possibly can. Thanks!

Interesting that Roeser in this makes no mention of Cardinal George, whom he has accused in the past, even recently, of running too loose a ship: “Dear Cardinal George, We are outraged and dismayed,” he and another wrote, protesting Hillary’s appearance at Mercy Home.

Now it’s all Lago, however, as if he pulls the cardinalatial strings.  Does he?