Chicago Cardinal Cupich Faces Backlash Over Plan to Honor Donor to Abortion-Access Groups at Seminary Gala

Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich is facing backlash over plans to honor Michael Sacks, a billionaire Democratic donor who has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to organizations that support abortion access. The recognition is part of the Oct. 29 Rerum Novarum Awards Dinner, which benefits Mundelein Seminary, the institution that trains future priests in the Archdiocese of Chicago, according to the event’s announcement.

Between 2020 and 2022, the Sacks Family Foundation, of which Sacks is president and treasurer, reportedly contributed grants totaling $500,000 to Planned Parenthood of Illinois. According to a Sept. 29 report from Crain’s Chicago Business, Sacks and his wife, Cari, gave $600,000 to the Prairie State Access Fund, an initiative established in partnership with the administration of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to support abortion access in the state. Sacks is also a board member of the Obama Foundation.

The planned honor comes about a year after Cupich faced criticism from fellow Catholic leaders over plans to recognize Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., whose support for abortion rights drew objections from bishops who argued that honoring him would conflict with Church teaching. Durbin declined to accept the lifetime achievement award after the backlash.

In a statement Monday defending the recognition of Sacks, Cupich said that “this year, the Nostra Aetate Award will be added to the honoring ceremony.” He said the award is named for the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, issued by the Second Vatican Council, and is designed to affirm the value the Church places on interreligious relationships by honoring members of non-Christian communities for their leadership. He described Sacks as “a well-respected leader in Chicago and in the Jewish community.” Cupich argued that the declaration provides a framework for honoring and building relationships with people who do not share Catholic beliefs, including those with differing moral or political views. He maintained that recognizing someone’s leadership and service does not amount to endorsing all of their positions, and that it instead fosters mutual respect and opportunities for dialogue.

Carl E. Olson, editor of Catholic World Report, criticized the decision on X, questioning whether Sacks’s leadership in the Jewish community was the basis for the award and asking whether there were pro-life Jewish leaders in the Chicago area. Olson also wrote that Cupich had invoked antisemitism in his defense, and he asked whether the argument would apply if Sacks had given money to a pro-MAGA group. Catholic investigative reporter Christine Niles also raised concerns on X, sharing a line from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement “Catholics in Political Life,” which says that Catholic institutions “should not be given awards, honors or platforms which would suggest support for their actions” when those actions defy fundamental moral principles. Public honors communicate what a community is willing to endorse, a matter that calls for speaking plainly and truthfully (Ephesians 4:15).

In a statement to Fox News Digital, Kelsey Reinhardt, president and CEO of CatholicVote, pointed to the same USCCB teaching, saying that Catholic institutions should not give “awards, honors or platforms” to those who act in defiance of fundamental moral principles. She said that a little over a year ago, Catholics made clear their disappointment that the Archdiocese of Chicago had attempted to honor a public supporter of abortion.

Source: Read the original report