WICHITA, Kansas (LifeSiteNews) — Bishop Carl A. Kemme of the Diocese of Wichita, Kansas, on Thursday joined several other bishops in urging Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago to retract his planned “lifetime achievement award” for pro-abortion, pro-LGBT Democratic Senator Richard Durbin.
In a September 25 diocesan statement, Kemme emphasized that Durbin’s consistent support and votes for murdering the unborn through abortion disqualify him from receiving the lifetime achievement award and will only cause scandal among the faithful. The Wichita bishop joins Bishop Thomas Paprocki, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, Bishop Joseph Strickland, and others who have urged Cupich to reconsider honoring Durbin with the award.
“As a former priest of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois, I support Bishop Thomas John Paprocki in his objection to awarding Senator Richard Durbin, who is from Springfield, a lifetime achievement honor,” the bishop wrote.
“It is my opinion that his long held views and consistent votes promoting abortion clearly disqualify him for this award by the Archdiocese of Chicago,” he added. “As a brother bishop, I urge Cardinal Cupich to withdraw this honor, which will ultimately cause scandal and confusion among the faithful.”
Cupich plans to present Durbin, a self-proclaimed Catholic who has supported partial-birth abortion, with a lifetime achievement award “for support of immigrants” at the upcoming “Keep Hope Alive” benefit on November 3.
Durbin’s voting record has earned 0 percent pro-life scores and 100 percent pro-abortion scores from the National Right to Life Committee, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood during the vast majority of his time in the Senate.
READ: Cardinal Cupich deserves to be rebuked for honoring pro-abortion Sen. Durbin
Since his election to the U.S. Senate in 1997, he has supported every possible brutal method of abortion, as well as even post-abortion infanticide, voting against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.
He also supported legislation aimed at codifying and expanding Roe v. Wade – the so-called “Women’s Health Protection Act” – despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that it was unconstitutional.
Back in 2004, as a result of his pro-abortion senatorial votes, Durbin was prohibited from receiving Holy Communion in his home diocese of Springfield, Illinois.
As noted by Kemme, Bishop Paprocki, the current bishop of Springfield, recently told The Pillar that he was “shocked” by Cupich’s plans to honor Durbin and said the decision “risks causing grave scandal, confusing the faithful about the Church’s unequivocal teaching on the sanctity of human life.”
READ: Archbishop Cordileone, Bishop Paprocki oppose Cupich’s plan to honor radical pro-abortion Democrat
“Honoring a public figure who has actively worked to expand and entrench the [so-called] right to end innocent human life in the womb undermines the very concept of human dignity and solidarity that the award purports to uphold,” Bishop Paprocki said.
“I stand in solidarity with Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, in urging Cardinal Cupich to reconsider giving Senator Durbin a Lifetime Achievement Award through the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity given his long record of supporting legal abortion,” Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone wrote on X.
Bishop Joseph Strickland, bishop emeritus of Tyler, Texas, joined Bishop Paprocki and Archbishop Cordileone in urging Cupich to reverse his decision to award Durbin and commended the Springfield bishop for barring the senator from receiving the Eucharist.
I join Archbishop Cordileone in supporting Bishop Paprocki and urging Cardinal Cupich to reverse his decision regarding Senator Durbin. I also commend Bishop Paprocki for caring for the Senators soul and barring him from receiving Communion. https://t.co/KrjPB4CNUz
— Bishop Joseph Strickland @ Pillars of Faith (@BishStrick) September 22, 2025
Bishop David Ricken of Green Bay, Wisconsin, Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, Bishop James Wall of Gallup, New Mexico, and Bishop Michael Olson of Fort Worth, Texas, have also joined the pushback against Cupich’s plan to award the radically pro-abortion senator.
READ: Wisconsin bishop calls on Cupich to retract award for pro-abortion senator
In response to some of the backlash earlier this week, Cupich doubled down on his decision and dismissed their concerns that he risks “grave scandal” by presenting Durbin with the lifetime achievement award, claiming that Catholic teaching on life and dignity “cannot be reduced to a single issue, even an issue as important as abortion.”
However, as noted by Bishop Paprocki while speaking to The Pillar, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) has clearly taught that “Catholic institutions should not honor those who act in defiance of our fundamental moral principles. They should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions.”
