Lay leader who criticized Cardinal Cupich phased out of Catholic Conference Board

Nearly six months after publicly criticizing Cardinal Blase Cupich’s plan to give a “lifetime achievement” award to pro-abortion-rights Senator Dick Durbin, a long-serving lay member of the Catholic Conference of Illinois (CCI) board of directors, John Breen, is being involuntarily phased out of his role. Breen, a Loyola University Chicago law professor who has served on CCI’s board since 2012, will leave after the group’s upcoming March 20 meeting. The Archdiocese of Chicago did not respond to a request for comment confirming the action.