CatholicVote has launched a campaign urging Cardinal Blase Cupich, archbishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago, to cancel plans to honor U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) with a lifetime achievement award for his work with immigrants. Durbin is an aggressive proponent of abortion who—for that reason—has been barred from receiving Holy Communion in his home diocese of Springfield, Illinois, for more than 20 years.
Through the online CatholicVote Action Center, concerned Catholics can send a message directly to Cardinal Cupich’s office, asking him to change course.
TAKE ACTION: Contact Cardinal Cupich and tell him to rescind Senator Dick Durbin’s award. Or call 312-534-8200.
“After decades of faithful prayer, pro-lifers marching, the U.S. bishops fighting to defund Planned Parenthood, and even the founding of a religious order to end abortion, this award shocks the Catholic conscience with its insensitivity to the evil of abortion and undermines the Church’s leading role in defending the unborn,” said President and CEO of CatholicVote Kelsey Reinhardt.
In addition to calling on subscribers to its daily LOOP and El LAZO news digests as well as followers of its CatholicVote.org and VotoCatholico.org websites and various social media platforms to join the effort, CatholicVote is supporting plans by March for Life Illinois to peacefully protest outside the November 3 fundraiser at which Cardinal Cupich intends to honor Durbin. Speakers at the protest will include Josh Mercer, co-founder and vice president of CatholicVote.
“We hope that protest will not be necessary,” Reinhardt said. “We join the seven US Bishops who have, in a spirit of fraternal correction, encouraged Cardinal Cupich to change his mind. That is why we need all those who recognize that killing an unborn child is intrinsically evil to ask Cardinal Cupich to cancel his plans to honor Senator Durbin.”
CatholicVote is America’s top Catholic advocacy organization, leading the fight for faith, family and freedom. Its mission is to inspire every Catholic in America to live out the truths of the Catholic faith in public life.
