Heavy Hitters Help Church Raise Money

By the time I noticed this story it's very likely over with already. For those of you who don't know St. Sabina is located on the south side at 1210 West 78th Street. The longtime pastor there is a Father Michael Pfleger who's known for being quite an activist. He's always looking out for his mostly black Catholic parish.

Tuesday evening he was looking out for his parish even more. He needs to build a new roof for that cathedral. Hence why you see CBS 2's political reporter Mike Flannery (just fresh off of his nice report about the Governor of Illinois) at the scene of this fundraiser. One of the heavyhitters referred to in this title that I stole from CBS 2's story and you may click the pic for the video was Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. Here's a piece of this story...

Lots of heavy hitters in Chicago are coming out Tuesday night to help raise money for a church roof. They're looking to raise $500,000 because the archdiocese isn't paying a penny.

As CBS 2 Political Editor Mike Flannery reports, the Archdiocese of Chicago insists they have assisted the South Side St. Sabina parish and that they made the building initially safe, but that the parishioners themselves are going to have to come up with the money for the structural repairs.

Benefactors attending the reception at a River North gallery are being asked to help raise $500,000 for St. Sabina, Chicago's largest African-American parish. Major structural repairs are needed for the roof and ceiling.

Apparently Pfleger has been at this parish since 1981 and Archbishop Francis Cardinal George has a policy suggesting that 26 years may be too long for a priest to stay in one place. Still Pfleger says that and then followed by Mayor Daley's comments...

"I'd like to stay here," Pfleger said. "At this point I don't see myself going somewhere else right now, but I do want to have, obviously, I can't stay at St. Sabina forever. I want to have somebody come in who's going to embrace it and take it to the next level."

"It's been a great parish for many, many years," said Mayor Richard M. Daley, who is expected to attend the fundraiser. "He [Pfleger] brought life -- really, really great life – back into that parish, St. Sabina's. He's been at the forefront dealing with guns and gangs."

Hopefully the roof will be fixed and that St. Sabina will have more than enough money to be able to do the job. I believe this church is in the vincinity of 79th and Racine. An area that is slowly but surely turning around after a few years of decline.