Pfleger denies Holocaust museum visit tied to Cupich rebuke

The Rev. Michael Pfleger angrily denied Wednesday that a public rebuke from his boss had anything to do with his upcoming visit to the Illinois Holocaust Museum in June.

“Before he even came out with his statement, I agreed — when they first said, would you Iike to come to the Holocaust museum — I said I’d be happy to come,” Pfleger said, talking to reporters at his South Side church, St Sabina. “I spent over a day and half at the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem.”

Pfleger was referring to a statement Cardinal Blase Cupich made earlier this month in which he strongly criticized the South Side pastor for allowing Minister Louis Farrakhan to speak from St. Sabina’s pulpit. During his speech, also in May, Farrakhan referred to, among other things, “good Jews” and “Satanic Jews.”

Stefano Esposito for the Sun-Times

In the statement, Cupich urged Pfleger to meet with leadership at the museum. But Pfleger, who was unveiling a new anti-violence campaign Wednesday, said he’d already accepted an offer from the museum before Cupich released his statement.

Pfleger said others, including the media, have been seeking to narrowly and wrongly define him, in the wake of the Farrakhan controversy, as an “anti-Semite.”

“This year, I celebrate 44 years of ministry at St. Sabina,” said Pfleger, who also celebrated his 70th birthday Wednesday. “I will put my 44 years of living and my ministry here to stand against sound bites, headlines and hate any day of the week.”

Pfleger announced plans Wednesday to distribute thousands of signs — “We Report Violence” — across the city. He is urging residents to post them in windows and on front doors.

“I am more concerned about the summer and the safety of our child than I am about something that happened two weeks ago,” he said.

He said 5,000 of the signs have been made — paid for by an anonymous donor — with 10,000 more on the way.