(OSV News) — In the wake of the news that the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity Immigration Ministry and Cardinal Blase J. Cupich are scheduled to give Sen. Dick Durbin, who is Catholic, a “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his work on immigration issues in November despite the senator’s longstanding public position on abortion, Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, in whose diocese Durbin officially resides, has issued a fraternal correction to Cardinal Cupich, calling on the archdiocese to change its plans.
“Because this decision threatens to scandalize the faithful and injure the bonds of ecclesial communion, it should be reversed,” Bishop Paprocki wrote Sept. 23 in First Things.
In an interview Sept. 24 with OSV News, Bishop Paprocki said that regardless of Sen. Durbin’s record on other issues, his public position supporting policies to protect legal abortion disqualifies him from receiving any awards, per policies of both the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Archdiocese of Chicago itself. He argued that the award is not consistent with the church’s teaching on life issues, and that standing up for the truth is not “breaking unity” within the church.
The full interview is below, edited for clarity and length.
OSV News: You issued a formal fraternal correction earlier this week to Cardinal Cupich over the decision to give Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois a “Lifetime Achievement Award.” What in your mind is the best outcome at this point?
Bishop Thomas J. Paprocki: I believe the best outcome at this point would be that Cardinal Cupich and the Archdiocese of Chicago would rescind giving their life achievement award to Senator Durbin.
I think that it’s clear that he’s had a very strong, consistent pro-abortion policy as a United States senator, and despite whatever other good things he’s done, we talk about the consistent ethic of life. That was a big issue with Joseph Cardinal Bernardin, who was the archbishop of Chicago back in the 1990s when I served as his chancellor. It seems to Senator Durbin, he’s taken this position for a number of years, that all the other good things that he does outweighs the fact that he’s been a pro-abortion politician, and it simply doesn’t work that way. It’d be like saying that a person’s a good Catholic because he follows nine out of the Ten Commandments — “but that one about the Fifth Commandment, Thou shalt not kill, we don’t follow that one, but the other nine, I do fine.” So it’s very inconsistent then to say we’re going to give a lifetime achievement award to somebody who is promoting the killing of unborn babies.
OSV News: Cardinal Cupich referenced the “consistent ethic of life” in his statement, coined, as you mentioned, by Cardinal Bernardin. Can you elaborate on what he meant by that concept?
Bishop Paprocki: Cardinal Bernardin himself was very forceful about that. You know, he was asked many times himself about that — this is back when he first was promoting the consistent ethic of life back in the 1980s and already then there were politicians and others who were using the consistent ethic to say that, well, like Sen. Durbin, that as long as I’m in conformity with Catholic teaching on the majority of issues, that’s OK, and abortion isn’t really that important. And there’s a very strong quote from Cardinal Bernardin — he was interviewed in the National Catholic Register in 1988 — and I have this quote that I like to use frequently, because I think it’s in his own words. He said: “I know that some people on the left, if I may use that label, have used the consistent ethic to give the impression that the abortion issue is not all that important anymore, that you should be against abortion in a general way but that there are more important issues, so don’t hold anybody’s feet to the fire just on abortion. That’s a misuse of the consistent ethic, and I deplore it.” That’s a pretty strong quote, and I think it’s very applicable to what’s going on here with Senator Durbin.
OSV News: With the fraternal correction, do you think that any response that you might get will be made public since your fraternal correction was public?
Bishop Paprocki: I think that Cardinal Cupich has already publicly said that he plans to go ahead with the honoring of Senator Durbin. So, if he were to rescind that, I think that would be very public. But at this point, it doesn’t look like he’s going to do that. In fact, he issued his statement on Monday after I pointed these things out to him. And so it’s basically pretty clear that he’s doubling down and tends to go ahead with giving this award.
OSV News: It doesn’t seem ideal to have bishops in the media going back and forth in disagreement. Certainly, it’s not ideal for the unity of the church. What does that say about this issue that you’ve decided to step forward like this?
Bishop Paprocki: The reason I decided to step forward was in response to something that Cardinal Cupich and the Archdiocese of Chicago are doing. I didn’t start this. They are doing something that is contrary to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement on “Catholics in Political Life,” that we, as the bishops of the United States, issued back in 2004. And it says very clearly, “The Catholic community and Catholic Institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.” That’s pretty clear. And in fact, the Archdiocese of Chicago has its own policy that is very similar to that about not giving honors or speaking opportunities to people whose public position is in opposition to the fundamental moral principles of the Catholic Church.
So when you have something like this, or when somebody is violating that policy, I don’t think it’s breaking unity to point it out and to ask for compliance with our policies and the teachings of the Catholic Church. In fact, I think we have to speak the truth, and Pope Leo recently gave a talk I saw in which he said that speaking the truth does not hurt unity — that we have to speak the truth. And I think that’s what we’re doing here. Because otherwise, what’s the point of having these policies? We spend a lot of time discussing the policies, and we adopt them, and then when someone violates the policies, is there any consequence, at least a public statement, that says that this is in violation of our policies of the bishop’s conference?
Other bishops have already weighed in. I saw Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco issued a statement, so did Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska. I appreciate their support, and I would anticipate that there will be other bishops that will be making their views on this known as well.
OSV News: Is it normal for a bishop to ignore the guidelines of the USCCB and his own diocese and policy on such matters?
Bishop Paprocki: I don’t think so. I mean, I’m not aware of this kind of a very public high profile recognition of a very prominent United States senator. I haven’t seen anything else like that. There is the issue of receiving holy Communion. That’s another issue. And you know, I know that Archbishop Cordleone of San Francisco has told, similarly, Nancy Pelosi that she was not supposed to receive Communion as well. So there are other cases like this where bishops have enforced canon law, basically, which says that when someone obstinately persists in promoting manifest grave sin that they should not receive holy Communion.
OSV News: In his statement from Sept. 22, Cardinal Cupich justified his actions in part by saying it was a way to remain faithful to the CDF’s instruction of May 2021. How would you respond to that?
Bishop Paprocki: Well, you know, the instruction is to have dialogue with politicians, and that’s fine. I do that. I’ve had dialogue with Senator Durbin. But when a bishop is trying to do that and the politician ignores it, well then you have to take some steps. And this is something that precedes me here in the diocese. This goes back to 2004 when the pastor of his parish here, Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, was then Msgr. Kevin Vann. He’s now Bishop Kevin Vann, the bishop of Orange, California. And he told — back then — Senator Durbin that he shouldn’t go to Communion, and that was upheld by my predecessor, Bishop George Lucas, who’s now Archbishop Emeritus of Omaha.
And so that has been observed here. Senator Durbin told me himself he does not go to Communion in our diocese. Well, he goes to Communion apparently at a church in Chicago. He has a condominium in Chicago, but he still has his home here in Springfield. I would say I’m still his bishop as far as that is concerned. You know, it’s very interesting that Cardinal Cupich was asked about this back in 2018 and about the issue of Senator Durbin not being able to receive holy Communion and in an article that was in the State Journal Register, the newspaper here in Springfield, Cardinal Cupich said, “I leave it to each bishop who has an obligation to be in dialogue with his elected officials on this matter in terms of their own practice of the Catholic faith. I was not part of the discussion between the bishop and Senator Durban on that, so I can’t comment on that, but I do respect any bishop who needs to take action within their own diocese, and I also believe that conversation should remain between those two.”
Well, those two, as Cardinal Cupich himself said, would be Senator Durbin and me, Bishop Paprocki. And so at this point, that hasn’t changed. He still has a home here, which in canon law is called a domicile. He has a domicile here in this diocese. And so, to that extent, I’m in a position where I believe I have to say something. It’s not just, well, should I say something? I believe I have that obligation.
OSV News: And his domicile is in the Diocese of Springfield?
Bishop Paprocki: He still uses that as his official registration. His voting records indicate that he votes from here, and even if you go to the official webpage for Senator Durbin on his website, it says he’s a resident of Springfield. So, it’s pretty clear.
OSV News: Is there a way that a diocese could award or honor an individual politician for work in one area when they may publicly disagree with the church in another area? Would there perhaps have been a more appropriate path for the Archdiocese of Chicago to recognize Senator Durbin for immigration work? Or is there no avenue for that at all?
Bishop Paprocki: Well, I suppose you could make an argument in that regard that if you if it were very narrow and just said we want to recognize all that you’ve done to help immigrants, that possibly could go — but I would point out two things. One is the policy of the USCCB, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, says simply that we should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles and they should not be given awards. So it would seem to be if someone is not following church teaching, that even singling out one area to honor, we shouldn’t. The other thing, as I would point out in this case, they’re calling this a “lifetime achievement award.” So it’s not just that one issue that they’re honoring him for.
OSV News: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
BIshop Paprocki: I just would ask people for their prayers. I think it’s very important. We always pray for a change of hearts, and we believe in the power of God’s grace and conversion. And so I just ask for prayers for Senator Durbin, for Cardinal Cupich, and for everyone that’s involved in the pro life movement as well.
Gretchen R. Crowe is editor-in-chief of OSV News.
