2 more bishops call on Cardinal Cupich to cancel award for pro-abortion senator

Two more Catholic bishops have joined the growing number of voices urging Cardinal Blase Cupich to rescind a planned Lifetime Achievement Award for pro-abortion Sen. Dick Durbin, scheduled to be presented by the Archdiocese of Chicago Nov. 3.

Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, and Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, issued statements Sept. 24 on X condemning the award and expressing support for previous objections raised by Bishops Thomas Paprocki and Salvatore Cordileone.

Bishop Wall thanked Bishop Paprocki in a post on X and shared a quote from Evangelium Vitae: “Man’s life comes from God; it is his gift, his image and imprint, a sharing in his breath of life. God therefore is the sole Lord of this life: man cannot do with it as he wills.”

Bishop Paprocki, who leads Durbin’s home diocese of Springfield, Illinois, was the first to publicly rebuke the decision to honor the senator. He issued an initial statement Sept. 19 and followed up with a detailed essay in First Things Sept. 23, calling the decision “gravely mistaken” and declaring it incompatible with Catholic teaching. 

Bishop Ricken wrote that the Archdiocese of Chicago’s plan to honor Senator Durbin is “untenable,” emphasizing that works of justice and the protection of life “are not mutually exclusive but must be inclusive.”

“Let us together pray & act consistently for life!” he added.

The controversy began Sept. 19, when the Archdiocese of Chicago announced Durbin would be honored for his work on immigration and other social justice issues. Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, has a long record of voting in favor of abortion and has been publicly barred from receiving Holy Communion since 2004 in his home diocese of Springfield.

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco echoed Bishop Paprocki’s concerns.

“Bishop Paprocki is correct that both clarity and unity are at risk,” he said Sept. 21. “I hope this will be a clarion call to all members of the Body of Christ to speak out to make clear the grave evil that is the taking of innocent human life.”

Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, has also sharply criticized the decision, stating he was “shocked and bewildered” to learn of the plan to honor Durbin.

Cardinal Cupich defended the decision in a Sept. 22 statement, saying the award would recognize Durbin’s work in immigration, care for the poor, environmental stewardship, and peacebuilding, and argued that “Catholic teaching on life and dignity cannot be reduced to a single issue, even an issue as important as abortion.” 

>> Illinois Right to Life to protest Cardinal Cupich’s decision to award pro-abortion senator <<