Two prominent U.S. bishops are publicly urging Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago to rescind plans to honor Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., with a “Lifetime Achievement Award,” citing the senator’s decades-long record of supporting abortion.
On Sept. 19, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield — Durbin’s home diocese — issued a blistering statement: “I was shocked to learn that the Archdiocese of Chicago plans to honor Senator Richard Durbin with a Lifetime Achievement Award through its Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity Immigration,” Paprocki said.
He stressed that Durbin’s record is incompatible with Catholic teaching.
“Given Senator Durbin’s long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions — this decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life,” Bishop Paprocki wrote. “Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold.”
Paprocki reminded Cardinal Cupich that both the U.S. bishops and Chicago’s own policies bar honoring individuals who promote abortion.
“Senator Durbin, who has been barred from receiving Holy Communion in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois since 2004 for his public support of abortion, should not be celebrated by the Church. This decision not only contradicts the Church’s moral doctrine but also sows confusion about the seriousness of abortion and the integrity of Catholic witness in public life,” Bishop Paprocki added. “I urge Cardinal Cupich to reconsider this action for the sake of clarity, unity, and fidelity to the Gospel of Life.”
On Sept. 21, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco amplified Bishop Paprocki’s concerns in a statement posted on X.
I stand in solidarity with Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Senator Durbin a Lifetime Achievement Award through the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity given his long record of supporting… https://t.co/T9X5R7ai2T
— Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone (@ArchCordileone) September 21, 2025
“I stand in solidarity with Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Senator Durbin a Lifetime Achievement Award through the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity given his long record of supporting legal abortion,” Archbishop Cordileone wrote.
Highlighting Durbin’s extremism, the archbishop added that “Bishop Paprocki, who is Senator Dick Durbin’s bishop, has expressed shock that the Archdiocese plans to honor Senator Durbin who, although a self-professed Catholic, supports access to abortion so radically that he has even opposed legislation to protect babies born after an attempted abortion. Bishop Paprocki is correct that both clarity and unity are at risk. 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.”
As reported by CatholicVote, Durbin, the Senate Democratic Whip, has been one of the most reliable pro-abortion votes in Washington. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America has consistently given him an “F” rating.
In the last Congress alone, Durbin “consistently voted to eliminate or prevent protections for the unborn and for children born alive after failed abortions,” SBA Pro-Life America noted, adding that he has voted to use taxpayer dollars for abortions, including covering abortion travel.
Earlier this year, Durbin condemned the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, defending Roe v. Wade as “a giant step forward in gender equity.”
The lifetime achievement award is tied to the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity Immigration Ministry. According to the archdiocese, the Nov. 3 banquet at Saint Ignatius College Prep will recognize “community leaders whose generous work and dedication have helped to advance our mission in the Archdiocese of Chicago and beyond.”
Proceeds will largely support the archdiocese’s immigration initiatives, including “pastoral migratoria,” a leadership program launched in Chicago in 2008 now active in parishes nationwide.
CatholicVote also reported that the decision has already sparked a wave of criticism. Dr. Mary Elizabeth Keen of the Catholic Medical Association’s Illinois chapter called it “devastating.”
“Our shepherds are supposed to proclaim Jesus’ teaching that all human life is sacred,” Keen told CatholicVote. “Senator Durbin has spent his career eliminating protections for the most vulnerable members of the human family.”
Illinois Right to Life also criticized the move in a Sept. 18 statement.
President Mary Kate Zander argued, “We cannot espouse pro-life values when it comes to abortion while simultaneously honoring a notoriously pro-abortion politician for his immigration policies. Presenting Dick Durbin with an award – and from the Office of Human Dignity, no less – is an explicitly inconsistent and un-Catholic choice by Cardinal Cupich. Not only does it cause scandal among the faithful by creating confusion, it also puts the Senator’s soul at risk by failing to hold him accountable.”
The group urged Catholics to contact the archdiocese to oppose the award.
Durbin’s estrangement from Church discipline goes back two decades. In 2004, then-Monsignor Kevin Vann — Durbin’s pastor in Springfield, later bishop of Orange, California — barred him from receiving Holy Communion. Bishop Paprocki reaffirmed that ban in 2021.