"I was shocked to learn that the Archdiocese of Chicago plans to honor Senator Richard Durbin with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Given Senator Durbin’s long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions — this decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.

Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold."

"I think that it is very important to look at the overall work that this Senator has done during, if I'm not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate. I understand the difficulty and the tensions, but I think, as I myself has spoken to pass, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the Church.

Someone who says, 'I'm against abortion' but says, 'I'm in favor of the death penalty,' is not really pro-life. So someone who says that 'I'm against abortion but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life; so they're very complex issues.

I don't know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there'd be greater respect for one another, and that we search together both as human beings and, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics to say we need to, you know, really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward as a Church.

Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear."

"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law" (No. 2271). 

"Some would say that the Church should never honor a political leader if he pursues policies diametrically opposed to critical elements of Catholic social teaching.

But the tragic reality in our nation today is that there are essentially no Catholic public officials who consistently pursue the essential elements of Catholic social teaching because our party system will not permit them to do so.

Total condemnation is not the way forward, for it shuts down discussion. But praise and encouragement can open it up, by asking their recipients to consider how to extend their good work to other areas and issues.

More broadly, a positive approach can keep alive the hope that it is worth talking to one another — and collaborating with one another — to promote the common good. No one wants to engage with someone who treats them as a thoroughgoing moral threat to the community. But people will engage with, and may even learn from, those who recognize them as making some contribution to a common endeavor."

"I was shocked to learn that the Archdiocese of Chicago plans to honor Senator Richard Durbin with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Given Senator Durbin’s long and consistent record of supporting legal abortion — including opposing legislation to protect children who survive failed abortions — this decision risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.

Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold."

"I think that it is very important to look at the overall work that this Senator has done during, if I'm not mistaken, 40 years of service in the United States Senate. I understand the difficulty and the tensions, but I think, as I myself has spoken to pass, it’s important to look at many issues that are related to what is the teaching of the Church.

Someone who says, 'I'm against abortion' but says, 'I'm in favor of the death penalty,' is not really pro-life. So someone who says that 'I'm against abortion but I'm in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States,' I don't know if that's pro-life; so they're very complex issues.

I don't know if anyone has all the truth on them, but I would ask first and foremost that there'd be greater respect for one another, and that we search together both as human beings and, in that case as American citizens or citizens of the state of Illinois, as well as Catholics to say we need to, you know, really look closely at all of these ethical issues and to find the way forward as a Church.

Church teaching on each one of those issues is very clear."

"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law" (No. 2271). 

"Some would say that the Church should never honor a political leader if he pursues policies diametrically opposed to critical elements of Catholic social teaching.

But the tragic reality in our nation today is that there are essentially no Catholic public officials who consistently pursue the essential elements of Catholic social teaching because our party system will not permit them to do so.

Total condemnation is not the way forward, for it shuts down discussion. But praise and encouragement can open it up, by asking their recipients to consider how to extend their good work to other areas and issues.

More broadly, a positive approach can keep alive the hope that it is worth talking to one another — and collaborating with one another — to promote the common good. No one wants to engage with someone who treats them as a thoroughgoing moral threat to the community. But people will engage with, and may even learn from, those who recognize them as making some contribution to a common endeavor."