A Chicago attorney has confirmed that a client of his has filed a claim with the Archdiocese of Chicago, alleging that Father Michael Pfleger, of St. Sabina Parish in Auburn Gresham, had sexually abused him when he was a minor in the late 1980s.
The attorney, Eugene Hollander, said his client was a member of the Soul Children of Chicago choir that rehearsed at St. Sabina Parish on a weekly basis.
Hollander's client alleges that on two separate occasions during these rehearsals, Pfleger sexually abused him in the parish rectory.
In a statement released on the St. Sabina website Saturday, Pfleger said he was innocent of the accusation while announcing he was stepping aside from all public ministry during the Archdiocese's investigation.
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Pfleger was previously accused of sexual abuse by three different men, leading to an investigation into Pfleger that began in 2021. Pfleger was allowed to return to the church in June 2021 after the Archdiocese found the allegations to be unfounded.
Hollander's client is the third man to file a sexual abuse claim against Pfleger, and the fourth overall to accuse Pfleger of sexual abuse. Last year, a man submitted an affidavit alleging that Pfleger touched his genitals over his clothes he was 18 years old, but he did not file a claim.
Cardinal Blase Cupich said in a statement Saturday that Pfleger had agreed to cooperate with the investigation, while adding that in accordance with child protection policies, the allegations were reported to both law enforcement officials and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
