{"id":34918,"date":"2025-09-22T21:37:23","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T21:37:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/?p=34918"},"modified":"2025-09-22T22:19:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T22:19:02","slug":"local-pro-life-leadership-needed-as-cardinal-cupich-honors-pro-abortion-senator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatirighttolife.org\/local-pro-life-leadership-needed-as-cardinal-cupich-honors-pro-abortion-senator\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardinal Cupich Honors Pro-Abortion Senator, Cincinnati’s new archbishop previously worked for Cardinal Cupich"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By: Laura Strietmann, Executive Director, Cincinnati Right to Life<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here in Cincinnati, we are blessed with new leadership and welcome Archbishop Casey who began his role when Archbishop Schnurr retired. Our newly installed Archbishop of Cincinnati previously served faithfully as an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Chicago before being called to shepherd our local Church. We look forward to his guidance and firm defense of the unborn, especially at a time when clarity and courage are needed within the wider Church.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ohio\u2019s abortion laws remain tragically close to those of Illinois<\/strong>,<\/a> and both states experience an evil amount of innocent bloodshed from the preborn each year<\/strong>. Yet even amid these challenges, we are grateful for signs of hope. We thank God for Senator Jon Husted\u2019s appointment to fill JD Vance\u2019s Senate seat<\/strong> and for Bernie Moreno\u2019s victory over Sherrod Brown in last November\u2019s election<\/strong>\u2014two pro-life leaders who will stand boldly in defense of the unborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Against this backdrop of both challenge and hope, troubling news has emerged from Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardinal Cupich Honors Pro-Abortion Senator<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cardinal Blase Cupich, head of the Archdiocese of Chicago, plans to honor radically pro-abortion Senator Dick Durbin<\/strong><\/a> with a Lifetime Achievement Award<\/strong> at the \u201cKeep Hope Alive\u201d Benefit on November 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The announcement has triggered immediate and widespread backlash among pro-life Catholics, who see the move as a scandalous betrayal of the unborn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pro-Life Advocates Condemn the Award<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illinois Right to Life<\/strong><\/a>, a leading statewide pro-life organization, condemned the decision in sharp terms. The award is being presented by the Archdiocese\u2019s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity, a choice that pro-lifers say blatantly contradicts the Church\u2019s defense of the dignity of every human life.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe Church emphasizes that human beings are integrated persons and that we cannot live in spiritual harmony if we are denying even one aspect of the truth of the faith,\u201d said Illinois Right to Life President Mary Kate Zander. \u201cPresenting Dick Durbin with an award \u2013 and from the Office of Human Dignity, no less \u2013 is an explicitly inconsistent and un-Catholic choice by Cardinal Cupich. Not only does it cause scandal among the faithful by creating confusion, it also puts the Senator\u2019s soul at risk by failing to hold him accountable for his refusal to oppose abortion in the U.S. Senate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to Illinois Right to Life, Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield,<\/strong><\/a> Durbin\u2019s home diocese, as well as <\/strong>Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco<\/strong><\/a>, have publicly criticized the award<\/strong>, underscoring the seriousness of the scandal and the disunity it creates within the Church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Durbin\u2019s Anti-Life Record<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Senator Durbin<\/strong>,<\/a> who has long claimed to be Catholic, has built a career consistently voting against protections for the unborn. Since being elected to the Senate in 1997, he has opposed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n