Obama’s Former Pastor Getting $1.6M Home in Retirement
The four- bedroom, 10,000-plus square foot home that Trinity United Church of Christ is building for Reverend Jeremiah Wright. (FNC Photo)
By Jeff Goldblatt
This was supposed to be the week that the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. returned to the pulpit to preach for the first time since his anti-American sermons generated nationwide outrage and drew condemnation from his longtime parishioner, Barack Obama.
But, citing security concerns, Wright canceled his speaking engagements in Florida and Texas. A spokeswoman at his former church in Chicago said his schedule is pending.
A two-week FOX News investigation, however, 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.
There is apparently nothing wrong with that, according to non-profit tax expert Jack Siegel of Charity Governance Consulting, who examined public documents FOX News obtained from the Cook County Register of Deeds and the Village of Tinley Park.
“At least looking at it from a public document standpoint, there’s clearly not a problem that jumps out or some sort of wrongdoing,” Siegel said.
Siegel characterizes the transaction as unusual, however, because of the way Wright sold the property to Trinity and the way the deal was financed, with the attached $10 million line of credit.
Because churches are classified as private businesses, Trinity isn’t required to reveal its intended use for the line of credit. Nor, because it’s a non-profit entity, is it required to provide that information to the IRS.
A spokesman for ShoreBank, the Chicago-based financial institution that secured mortgages for the loans, said the deals were aboveboard.
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.”
Tradition at Trinity United centers on a congregation that’s unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian, according to the church’s website. There are also no apologies from the church for the home it’s building for its former senior pastor, who nurtured a religious empire that grew to have more than 8,000 congregants.
Is Jeremiah Wright the FIRST pastor to live in a beautiful home? I THINK NOT! What is the big deal? Yes, there are some pastors who CHOOSE not to. That’s their choice. Who chose your house? Should he refuse a house that’s being given to him by his parishoners which is in line with what they’ve always done? AGAIN, I THINK NOT! There is absolutely nothing wrong with having wealth. It’s those who forget the source (GOD). If Rev. Wright has done something wrong, HE will have to answer to the same GOD that you and I will for things that we’ve done wrong in OUR lives. Had he not been the pastor of presidential hopeful Senator Obama, none of this would matter. I see it as another attempt to undermine Obama’s bid for the white house.
I find it intriguing that this “so-called minister” of GOD’s word who is so racist and anti-white, is moving into a gated community that is 98% WHITE. I would think his congregation that is so unashamedly black would have a problem with that. What is really good is that the house comes with a $10.9 million dollar line of credit (tax free I am sure). This should tide the Rev over quite well in his retirement. This alone leads me to the conclusion that he must want to emulate the rich white people that he admonishes all the time. GOD will deal with this racist when the time comes.
This makes me ill and as a born again christian…I will leave the judgement to the Lord…He does a much better job than any human could. Forgive him Lord.
Pastor Wright has grown the TUCC church from under 100 members to over 8000 members and has set up donations to black colleges and smaller churches to continue ministry.
This house was a promise to him from some of the charter members for his dedication to this church and to this community. It is quite silly to blame Pastor Wright for living his later years in luxury.
Check the way he has lived the last 36 years; not exactly the way TD Jakes, or Freddy Haynes live.
In the many years as a church goer everyone whom I’ve ever recognized as my pastor has lived in a modest, and mean really modest, abode! One of my former pastors lives in the home in which she and her husband raised their family. Another former pastor lives in a mobile home park and has for years & years.
I suppose that it depends upon the finances of the flock one shepherds. Perhaps that’s it.
Since time immemorial there has often been a lot of griping about the amount of $$$$ pastors receive; that they own jet airplanes; drive fancy cars; etc.
You can bet your bottom $$$ (pun intended!) that the congregations I’ve been privileged to be part of consisted of low to medium income folks with a sprinkling of well-to-do families. That being said, everyone was on a level footing when it came to treating each other with grace, respect and kindness.
Perhaps the former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s parishoners ought to try their hand at preaching to the folk in the ghetto and see about ‘raising them up’ to better financial heights. What do you think?
I reckon I’ll have to wait for my reward in the hereafter……..I’m STILL PAYING A MORTGAGE and thankful to have a modest roof over my head. Hopefully, Gov. Schwarzenegger won’t jack up the taxes in my state to balance the budget. It’s lots of fun being on a fixed income—-in any state!!!!
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I wonder if the construction crew building his house are mostly black. Since he preached about the black work ethic, the black community etc. Jermiah has already been exposed as a hypocrite twice. So I’m curious to the percentage of blacks working on the Reverend’s new house.
When our the American people going to wake up. Sometimes I thank we our a far. This Jackson, and Sharpton must think we do not know what their all about. Now we will have number three, Mr Wright. This is very sad
This is evil running rampant in our America…..may the L-rd cause a spirit of repentance to fall on our hearts for trying to live above our means and for being greedy . It is a shame when this is a representation of how the Body of Messiah Yeshua(Jesus) lives and how we deceive others in HIS name….may the L-rd forgive us …..how very sad!
All we can say is L-rd ,please open the eyes of the people to be discerning before they are deceived into believing this is the way to live….Yeshua had no place to rest HIS head,we are at least blessed with our necessaties from the Father above,the G-d of Abraham,Issac and Jacob.It is a crying shame when our congregations are considered businesses.I don’t believe it was ever meant to be that way.
This election is a very important paradigm shift whether we vote as the people or G-d’s heart.Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing….
May our L-rd richly bless those who stand up for believers in the one true and living G-d’s ways,and may HE have mercy on those who are living in access and not living for HIM. Scriptures state”take up your cross and follow me” The L-rd Himself says this….
many blessings,
one who cares
It amazes me that some people thinks that this is not news. Well, mu\y friends it is definitely news and it not only concerns FOXNEWS, it concerns me and my family and love ones. If you belived in the ‘HOLY BIBLE’ it would / should concern you.
FOXNEWS, my hat is off to you for having the courage to report this and keep it in the news. It is difficult for me to believe that Obama sat through 20 years of church services and had ‘NO IDEA’ that Wright was spewing racial remarks!
Jeff Goldblatt, ‘KEEP UP THE GREAT NEWS REPORTING”, you are a man of courage and have the guts to report what is worth reporting. We as Christian and AMERICANS should have knowledge of what is going on in the Great United States of America. We have the right to know that a candidate for the highest office was / is associated with an indiviual such as Wright. This says allot about hima nd what he would have in store for American if he were to be president. He defitinely DOES NOT have my vote.
America wake up before it is too late.
Have you consider for one moment that Obama could be the ANTI-CHRIST? HAVE YOU?
Anyone “surprised” by this sort of thing? And anyone who really thinks that the Wrights, Jacksons, Sharptons, Clintons, Obama’s , etc, etc, etc. give a hoot about the “people” be they black, white, brown are only deluding themselves. They care NOT ONE WHIT for anyone but themselves and how much they can take us for.
What really saddens me is what is being done to our children, and our children’s children. For the first time in my adult life, I am very afraid of what legacy we are leaving for them.
And that, during this presidential election … we have to chose, not the “best” person for the job, but what I call the lesser of two evils … SAD, SAD,SAD.