September 23, 2025
The Honorable Richard Durbin
711 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Senator Durbin:
On November 3, you are scheduled to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the “Keep Hope Alive” Benefit, presented by the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Office of Human Dignity and Solidarity Immigration Ministry.
You are no doubt honored to receive this award. However, it has created a firestorm in the Catholic community, involving both the clergy and the laity. In particular, it has drawn the ire of some bishops. The anger being expressed is not confined to Chicago—it is national in scope. I am afraid it will only increase once more Catholics learn of the controversy.
The proximate cause of the backlash is your voting record on abortion, an act which the Catholic Church declares to be “intrinsically evil.” Your support for same-sex marriage, and your probing of the religious convictions of Catholic nominees for the federal bench, have also elicited much criticism.
Pope Leo XIV is off to a good start, and among his top objectives is the restoration of unity in the Catholic Church. This is also a priority of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. Regrettably, once it was learned that you were chosen to receive a Catholic award, it created the very division that the pope and the bishops have been trying to quell.
Accordingly, I respectfully request that you decline this award. In doing so, you will help ameliorate Catholic discord. Moreover, by putting the interests of the Catholic community above your own interests, it will only redound to your benefit.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
William A. Donohue, Ph.D.
President
