Earlier this week, Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of Chicago, announced that Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., declined to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Archdiocese of Chicago. The decision capped weeks of scandal over Cardinal Cupich’s controversial plan to honor Durbin, an outspoken defender of abortion in Congress and a Catholic who has been at odds with Church teaching for decades.
Cardinal Cupich used his statement to defend his original decision to honor Durbin, arguing that the political system makes it difficult for Catholics to be consistently pro-life.
>> Cardinal Cupich announces Durbin has declined award but defends offering it <<
But Durbin’s record shows he has gone further than party pressure required. For years, he has been one of the most reliable pro-abortion votes in the Senate — and the Church has repeatedly chastised him.
A long history with the Church: Barred from Holy Communion
Durbin has been barred from receiving Communion in the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, since 2004, when Monsignor Kevin Vann, his pastor at the time, said he could not administer the Eucharist to Durbin because of the senator’s abortion stance. Successive bishops, including Springfield’s current shepherd, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, have upheld that decision.
In a 2018 interview with Catholic World Report, Bishop Paprocki cited Canon 915, which bars Communion to those who “obstinately persist in manifest grave sin,” saying Durbin’s consistent record on abortion made the continuation of the ban necessary.
Durbin himself has admitted to seeking out parishes in Chicago where he can receive Communion, describing the Springfield ban as “not a happy experience.”
He has insisted the decision should rest on individual conscience. In 2021, he told the Jesuit magazine America that he found “another Catholic venue, the Archdiocese of Chicago, and a church where they were willing to let me in and allowed my wife to join me. So it’s become my new faith home.”
>> Jesuit Mag Publishes Catholic Democrat’s Complaint of Being Denied Communion <<
During the America magazine interview, he also argued that it is “fundamentally unfair” that bishops can deny communion to politicians who promote abortion and incorrectly said that “the standard for receiving Communion is a well-formed conscience.”
“In the end,” Durbin said, “it is a personal decision to stand at that rail, and I think with very few exceptions, Communion is offered to anybody if the person believes that they are worthy of it.”
A pro-abortion voting record
Once considered pro-life, Durbin flipped decades ago and became a leading abortion advocate in Washington. In a 2017 interview with CNN, he declared Democrats who oppose abortion have no place in the party unless they publicly support Roe v. Wade.
CatholicVote’s 2023 accountability project gave Durbin an “F,” citing a long string of recent votes that align with abortion:
- Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (2021): Voted “no” on requiring abortionists to provide care for babies who survive abortion.
- Xavier Becerra confirmation (2021): Voted “yes” on whether to confirm Xavier Becerra, a radical pro-abortion ideologue, to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
- Federal Tissue Funding Ban (2021): Voted “no” on an amendment that would have prohibited taxpayer dollars from research involving aborted fetal tissue or the destruction of embryos
- Hyde in Budget Resolution (2021): Voted “no” to prohibit taxpayer funding for abortion in federal spending bills
- Penalties for late-term abortions (2021): Voted “no” on an amendment that would have established penalties against abortionists who perform abortions at 20 weeks or later
- Prohibit funds for Down syndrome abortions (2021): Voted “no” to prohibit taxpayer dollars from being used to fund abortions of babies believed to have Down syndrome
- Veterans Administration (VA) Abortion funding (2023): Voted “no” on a resolution that would have overturned a VA rule allowing the VA to pay for and provide counseling for abortions
- Equal Rights Amendment Revival (2023): Voted “yes” to revive an amendment that would enshrine abortion in the Constitution
- Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act (2025): Voted “no” on an amendment that would have mandated any child surviving abortion receive the same standard of care as any other newborn.
Defiance of the Church
Durbin has consistently pushed back against bishops who criticize his stance. In 2003, when the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops considered guidelines on Communion for pro-abortion lawmakers, he warned that the Church should “seriously consider” the consequences of enforcing guidelines, according to RollCall.
“It’s tough enough to get anyone to run for office. It will be increasingly more difficult to get good Catholic candidates to run, when they think the Catholic bishops are looking over their every vote,” Durbin reportedly said.
In a now-archived 2021 interview published by the Chicago Tribune, Durbin suggested that the Church often makes political life more difficult for lawmakers.
“It is tough to run for public office and face an opponent, to decide on issues what is the best thing, then face the criticism from colleagues, voters, the press and defend yourself,” Durbin said. “Now add to that equation for a Catholic politician … one last stop. The local bishop will announce whether your vote is appropriate and whether or not you’re in good standing with the church as a result of that vote.”
Durbin added that bishops “have a great responsibility within the church and do wonderful things, a lot of great works to help people all over the United States and around the world. But when they decide to cross the line into the American political scene, it becomes very complicated.”
In 2022, he criticized bishops for denying Communion to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, likening it to his own case.
“I still believe that the authorities in the church believe we have issues that can only be decided by our own conscience, and not by some bishop’s conscience,” Durbin said in an interview with FOX News.
Why it matters
For the Church, abortion is not one issue among many but an intrinsic evil. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) affirms: “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable” (CCC 2271).
The U.S. bishops’ guidance in “Catholics in Political Life” makes the application to politics clear.
“The Catholic community and Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles,” it states. “They should not be given awards, honors, or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”
In addition, the Church’s teaching on the Eucharist sets out how Catholics must approach Holy Communion: to receive it worthily, they must be in the state of grace.
Canon 916, echoing Saint Paul’s warning in 1 Corinthians 11:27-28, states: “A person who is conscious of grave sin is not to celebrate Mass or receive the body of the Lord without previous sacramental confession unless there is a grave reason and there is no opportunity to confess; in this case the person is to remember the obligation to make an act of perfect contrition which includes the resolution of confessing as soon as possible.”
The Catechism reiterates that anyone who has sinned mortally “must not receive communion without having received absolution in the sacrament of penance” (CCC 1415).
Durbin’s decades-long defiance of Church teaching underscores why many Catholics — including nearly a dozen bishops — say he should never have been considered for an award in the first place.
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