Wright to speak at 2 Phila. churches

The Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., Sen. Barack Obama's former pastor, brings his fiery brand of preaching to his native Philadelphia next month.

Wright, who lives in Chicago, will be the revivalist at St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in Overbrook on May 28 and 29 and will preach June 1 at Canaan Baptist Church.

Yesterday Obama publicly severed ties with Wright, denouncing as "outrageous" such assertions by Wright that the U.S. government had provoked the Sept. 11 attacks and had engineered the AIDS virus.

Speaking in Winston-Salem, N.C., Obama called Wright's comments "appalling" and "destructive" and contrary to the kind of racial unity he is seeking to achieve as president.

The Rev. Martini Shaw, rector of St. Thomas Church, and the Rev. Derik Brennan, pastor of Canaan Baptist, did not return calls yesterday seeking comment on their choices of Wright as preacher.

A woman who answered the phone at Canaan said Wright had preached "many times" at the church, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. He is to preach the 9 a.m. sermon June 1.

The St. Thomas revival is called "Remember the Journey; Rejoice in the Blessings" and will begin both evenings at 7 p.m. Founded in 1792, St. Thomas is the oldest African American congregation in the Episcopal Church USA.

The Rev. Isaac Miller, rector of the Episcopal Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia, said he did not think Wright had "crossed a line" with his preaching.

"I probably would not be with Brother Wright regarding HIV and AIDS," Miller said yesterday, "but that Tuskeegee thing was real," he said, referring to when the federal government inoculated black men with syphilis in the 1940s to test treatments.

Miller said his "heart sank for Obama" when he heard that the senator disavowed his 20-year ties with Wright.

"When Obama does that kind of thing, he says, 'I need to put a distance between myself and the truth,' " Miller said. "But I don't care who you are; you can't put a distance between yourself and the truth."

Wright, 67, grew up in Germantown, where his father was longtime pastor of Grace Baptist Church. He graduated from Central High School in 1959.

After graduation, he attended Virginia Union University for two years before joining the Marine Corps. He later resumed his studies at Howard University in Washington and completed his religious training in Chicago and Dayton, Ohio.

When he took charge of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago it reportedly had 87 members. When he retired, it was said to have more than 10,000, one of the city's largest churches.