Dallas Videofest 2009 - Radical Disciple: The Story of Father Pfleger

58 min.

Mike Pfleger defines the word iconoclast. He's a white priest in a nearly all-black parish, an outspoken maverick in a rigidly conservative arch-diocese, a preacher whose sermons are more akin in style and tone to Black Baptist traditions than White Catholic. He's repeatedly challenged orthodoxy, from his adoption of three boys to his frequent political actions, making him a constant irritant to the church hierarchy. Yet, Pfleger has also transformed a dying parish into one of the city's most vibrant, while leading the economic revival of one of Chicago's most impoverished neighborhoods. In The Trials of Father Pfleger we'll tell the remarkable story of this Catholic rebel, and, by extension, explore these broader themes: the frayed relationship between the Church and the African-American community, the power of the media, and the tension between Pfleger's 'gospel of the streets' versus traditional Church theology.

Information from the festival's website