Bishops condemn Chicago cardinal’s honoring of pro-abortion senator
The Archdiocese of Chicago, led by Cardinal Blase Cupich, announced it would be giving a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., a Catholic politician known for his staunch support of abortion rights.
In response to subsequent public corrections from multiple bishops, Card. Cupich publicly defended his decision to honor Sen. Durbin in a statement on September 22, arguing that the “consistent ethic of life” could not be “reduced to a single issue,” and that the award would be recognizing Sen. Durbin’s “defense of immigrants.”
The Rover interviewed Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, who holds a Master’s in Business Administration from Notre Dame’s Mendoza School of Business and taught at the Law School as an adjunct professor for five years. Bp. Paprocki, as Sen. Durbin’s local bishop, was the first to publicly condemn the honoring of the senator and called for Card. Cupich to reverse his decision.
“I was shocked to read [the announcement],” Bp. Paprocki told the Rover. The bishop first emailed Card. Cupich privately, but received a response indicating that the cardinal would not reverse the decision. “When he made it clear that they were going to give the award, then I felt I had to say something publicly,” Bp. Paprocki said.
Sen. Durbin has been denied communion in the Diocese of Springfield since 2004, Bp. Paprocki told the Rover. The senator’s local pastor at the time told him that his public pro-abortion stance prevented him from receiving communion.
“This is a scandalous situation in two senses of that word,” Bp. Paprocki said. “In the more popular sense, people use the word ‘scandal’ to refer to something that is shocking. And I have used that word ‘shocking’ as well … the news is shocking.”
“The more technical meaning of the word scandal,” Bp. Paprocki added, “is when somebody is doing something wrong and it’s not corrected.”
“I think it’s scandalous, in that sense,” Bp. Paprocki said. “Here you have a Catholic politician who has a 100 percent pro-abortion rating from NARAL, which stands for the National Abortion Rights Action League … and then he’s getting a Lifetime Achievement Award from a Catholic archdiocese. And so other Catholic politicians who are voting pro-abortion, they would look at that and say, ‘Well, you know, he’s been voting pro-abortion all these years, and he gets an award from the Church. So I guess it’s okay.’”
Sen. Durbin, although he began his political career in 1982 as a pro-life politician, switched his position shortly thereafter, becoming one of Congress’ most outspoken defenders of abortion. Susan B. Anthony Foundation Pro-Life America—a non-profit dedicated to protecting all unborn life—gave Sen. Durbin an “F” grade for his consistent pro-abortion votes in Congress.
“Abortion is a fundamental human right,” he wrote on Twitter in 2023. Sen. Durbin called the 1973 Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States, a “giant step forward in gender equity” and has consistently voted against protecting newborn babies who survive botched abortions.
Since Bp. Paprocki’s public condemnation of Card. Cupich’s decision to award Sen. Durbin, 10 bishops have followed suit, demanding that the award be revoked. Other prominent Church leaders and organizations, such as Catholic podcaster Lila Rose and Students for Life, have also denounced the award and called for its retraction.
Card. Cupich’s decision comes at a time of heightened awareness of the political divide in America. In response to the concern that the bishops’ critique of Card. Cupich would breed discord, Bp. Paprocki stressed that the unity of the Church rests on pastoral obedience to doctrine and Church teaching, rather than an absence of fraternal correction.
“Unity is not necessarily a question of keeping silence when something is wrong,” Bp. Paprocki noted.
“We have a policy that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops adopted back in 2004 and a statement called ‘Catholics in Political Life,’ and it says very clearly … that the Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles,” Bp. Paprocki continued. “They should not be given awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions. … [T]hat’s very clear.”
Bp. Paprocki stressed that his pastoral duty as a bishop demanded the response he gave. “I think we should not remain silent. I believe that we have an obligation to say something. There’s a maxim in law that silence is consent, and so if there’s something wrong that’s going on … we have an obligation to speak out. If unity has been broken, it’s not been broken by speaking out. The unity has been broken by somebody who acted contrary to the policies of the Conference of Bishops and the teachings of the Catholic Church.”
The award for Sen. Durbin is set to be given on November 3, at the “Keep Hope Alive” benefit function held by the archdiocese’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity. To send a message to Card. Cupich voicing your concerns, find the link on CatholicVote’s website.
Lucy Spence is a junior from McLean, Virginia majoring in piano performance and the Program of Liberal Studies, with a minor in philosophy. Contact her at lspence@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: (OSV News/Gina Christian)
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