Ah, you’ve got to love a pastor who just keeps giving and giving and giving.  Of course, in the case of now-retired Trinity United pastor Jeremiah Wright, it’s not spiritual guidance that he continues to give.

What Wright continues to give us is ammunition–fodder that can be used to highlight his rank hypocrisy.

I mean, the man apparently lectured his flock regularly about “middleclassism.”  And he admonished his congregants not to engage in materialism.  And, presumably, he delivered such harangues for many, many years.

And now we learn THIS from Fox News:

A two-week FOX News investigation…has uncovered where Wright will be spending a good deal of his time in retirement, and it is a far cry from the impoverished Chicago streets where the preacher led his ministry for 36 years.

FOX News has uncovered documents that indicate Wright is about to move to a 10,340-square-foot, four-bedroom home in suburban Chicago, currently under construction in a gated community.

While it is not uncommon for an accomplished clergyman to live in luxury, Wright’s retirement residence is raising some questions.

‘Some people think deals like this are hypocritical. Jeremiah Wright himself criticizes people from the pulpit for middle classism, for too much materialism,’ said Andrew Walsh, Associate Director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life with Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

‘So he’s entitled to be tweaked here. So the question really is, how unusual is this? Somewhat unusual,’ he said.

According to documents obtained from the Cook County Register of Deeds, Wright purchased two empty lots in Tinley Park, Ill., from Chicago restaurant chain owner Kenny Lewis for $345,000 in 2004.

Documents show Wright sold the property to his church, Trinity United, in December 2006, with the proceeds going to a living trust shared with his wife, Ramah.

The sale price for the land was just under $308,000, about $40,000 less than Wright’s original purchase two years earlier.

Public records of the sale show Trinity initially obtained a $10 million bank loan to purchase the property and build a new house on the land.

But further investigation with tax and real estate attorneys showed that the church had actually secured a $1.6 million mortgage for the home purchase, and attached a $10 million line of credit, for reasons unspecified in the paperwork.

[…]

Wright did not respond to repeated calls for comment, and Trinity United refused to discuss the specifics of the home it is building for him and the way the deal was financed.

The church referred FOX News to its denominational headquarters in Cleveland, which provided a statement of support:

‘It is customary and appropriate in many Christian denominations, including the United Church of Christ, for local churches to offer housing provisions for retiring clergy, especially in cases where pastors have served long-term pastorates. We support efforts by our 5,700 local churches to ensure that retiring pastors and spouses have continuing housing, adequate pension and health care, as an expression of our continuing appreciation for their years of service. Each local UCC congregation is free to honor a retiring pastor in ways it feels most appropriate to address the needs of that clergyperson’s circumstances,’ wrote the Rev. J. Bennett Guess, spokesman for UCC’s national office.

‘This is about how these kinds of churches work,’ notes Walsh. ‘These pastors who made big successful churches are real valuable commodities. Is it morally wrong? Well, Protestants don’t have the idea that their religious leaders should live modestly or aesthetically. We’re not talking Buddhist monks or Catholic priests here. There’s no tradition that says they have to live poor.’

Poor?

Why, no.  Nothing says they should have to live poor.  Unless, perhaps, they feel compelled to live up to the “moral standards” they pushed upon their (poor, black) flock for 30-odd years.

Or unless they’d prefer NOT to look like a hypocrite.

Yeah, that’s the hovel Reverend Wright is doomed to spend his twilight years in.  Doesn’t it suck?  And did I mention that the neighborhood Wright will be living in is on a golf course?  And that the residents of the neighborhood are 93% WHITE???????

So after 36 years of delivering sanctimonious fire-and-brimstone you-must-hate-white-America sermons to the black community, I guess he suddenly prefers NOT to retire and live among the “negroes,” as it were.

Perhaps he should change his name to Jeremiah White.

I wonder if his former congregants will start to refer to his retirement home as “the White House”?

Technorati Tags: pastor, now-retired, Trinity United, Jeremiah Wright, spiritual guidance, rank hypocrisy, lectured his flock regularly, middleclassism, congregants, materialism, harangues, investigation, retirement, impoverished Chicago streets, preacher, ministry, 36 years, 10, 340-square-foot, four-bedroom home, suburban Chicago, under construction, gated community, live in luxury, retirement residence, hypocritical, criticizes people, pulpit, Andrew Walsh, Associate Director, Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life, Trinity College, Cook County Register of Deeds, Tinley Park, Kenny Lewis, living trust, Ramah, $10 million bank loan, $1.6 million mortgage, $10 million line of credit, United Church of Christ, housing provisions for retiring clergy, long-term pastorates, successful churches, moral standards, hypocrite, Reverend Wright, golf course, negroes, Jeremiah White

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