For faithful Catholics, the news that yet another pro-abortion politician is being celebrated by the liberal-leaning ecclesial authorities of their own Church is discouraging. Their sorrow is not just because Chicago’s Cardinal Blase Cupich has decided to grant a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to 80-year-old Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)—a Catholic politician who has devoted his career to championing abortion access at every turn. It is also because of the deafening silence from nearly all of the bishops throughout the country. For Catholics who believe the Church must speak truth to power, this moment feels like abandonment.
Aside from a handful of courageous bishops, the 430 active and retired bishops who participate in the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops have remained publicly silent while one of their own honors a politician whose 100 percent pro-abortion voting score in 2024 from the Planned Parenthood Action Fund stands in direct opposition to the Church’s pro-life teachings. There has been no collective challenge, no visible dissent, and no public defense of the unborn from the episcopate.
Cardinal Cupich must know—as all faithful Catholics have known for decades—that Sen. Durbin could be counted on for voting in favor of the most radical abortion policies. Most recently, on January 22, 2025, Durbin voted against the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act which would require medical intervention for infants who survive an attempted abortion. Later in the year, Durbin voted against defunding Planned Parenthood. The previous July, Durbin voted in favor of the Reproductive Freedom for Women Act. And two years earlier, Durbin supported late-term abortion by voting against the Kennedy Amendment 3758 which would have banned abortion after 20 weeks.
For faithful Catholics committed to defending the most vulnerable, Sen. Durbin’s vote against S.2745—the Down Syndrome Discrimination by Abortion Prohibition Act—was especially disheartening. The bill sought to protect unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome from being targeted for elective abortion; yet Durbin opposed it.
There is a concern that Catholic politicians who might have been persuaded to take a courageous pro-life stand will instead conclude: If their own bishops won’t spend moral capital on this issue, why should they? The hierarchy of their own Church, once a source of moral clarity, now offers them little public support. But thankfully, there are still faithful Catholics who refuse to be discouraged by the silence of their shepherds—and who continue to act boldly in defense of the unborn.
Catholics need to support those few faithful bishops who do find the courage to speak out. Responding to the scandal of awarding a “Lifetime Achievement Award” to Durbin, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois—the presiding bishop of Sen. Durbin’s home diocese—told a reporter for The Pillar that the award “risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.” Bishop Paprocki has barred Sen. Durbin from receiving Holy Communion since 2021 because of his pro-abortion activities.
San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone voiced solidarity on with Bishop Paprocki, calling for “clarity and unity in defending the dignity of human life” and urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider the award that would “sow confusion.” As importantly, the archbishop added that he hopes that “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.”
That is already happening. Most recently, Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay posted on that he “joined Bishop Paprocki and Archbishop Cordileone in urging that Cardinal Cupich retract the award.” Bishop James Conley of Lincoln said he “was shocked and bewildered” by the award.
On September 22, Illinois Right to Life announced plans for a peaceful protest on November 3 outside St. Ignatius College Prep, where the Archdiocese of Chicago will present Sen. Durbin with the award. And while the protest may come too late to prevent the scandal, a groundswell of support is building on social media for the courageous bishops who dared to speak out—rejecting the honor bestowed on a politician whose career has consistently advanced the culture of death.
This article was originally published on Crisis Magazine.
