CHICAGO (IL)
WGN-TV [Chicago IL]
July 13, 2026
By Ben Bradley
The Rev. Michael Pfleger has been here before. Accused without charges. Named and shamed before an investigation got off the ground.
The year was 2021. Two brothers accused Pfleger, the longtime pastor of St. Sabina Church, of inappropriate conduct decades earlier when he was in seminary.
In all, Pfleger has been accused four previous times and cleared each time following a months-long investigation.
He has now been suspended from ministry again. The Archdiocese of Chicago said a woman accused Pfleger of sexual abuse when she was a student at the church school in the mid-1990s.
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Pfleger strongly denies it, and said he wants a swift decision from the Cardinal.
“I do not intend to let this drag on and drain this church family. If it’s not over very soon, I will make a decision,” he wrote in a social media post.
And as WGN Investigates found, after decades of scandal, the archdiocese’s policy publicly names and suspends priests before any evidence is gathered.
This time, Pfleger is fighting back.
In a post on Facebook, he wrote, “Before an investigation or even a conversation has taken place, a priest is removed and told to remain silent during the process. The presumption of innocence does not exist for priests.”
Data from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ 2025 report found that 704 priests were accused of abuse involving young people that fiscal year. Seven percent of the claims were deemed credible, while 42% were unsubstantiated. The investigation is ongoing in about half of the cases.
“As your parish has been through this before, I can well understand your distress in learning of this development,” Bishop Mark Bartosik said.
More coverage: WGN Investigates
The Archdiocese sent a bishop to St. Sabina on Sunday. He was nearly booed off the altar.
Pfleger’s longtime assistant read a letter from Chicago’s best-known priest. He said neither he nor others at the church remember the accuser.
“I believe this is another attack by those who have sought to destroy me for years and another attempt by someone to get money from the archdiocese and to silence me,” Corey Williams read. “I will not stand by and allow my name, my ministry and the church I pastor to be slandered or defamed.”
Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines
Pfleger did not respond to an interview request but reiterated his innocence on social media. His full statement reads:
