Education

Georgetown Honors Pro-Abortion Senator Barred From Communion

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Grace Carr Reporter
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Georgetown University conferred pro-abortion Sen. Dick Durbin, who was banned from taking communion by his own bishop, with an award honoring his devotion to service and core Jesuit values, Wednesday night.

“I am humbled to be in the company of so many who have spent their lives in the service of others,” Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois, said after Georgetown President John J. DeGioia presented him with the Timothy S. Healy, S.J. Award for “exemplary public service,” according to PR Newswire. The award recognizes those “who have rendered outstanding and exemplary service to his/her profession or community in support of humanitarian causes.”

“Calling Senator Durbin, one of the most pro-abortion members of the United States Senate, a ‘humanitarian’ is an absolute disgrace,” the former President of Georgetown Right to Life Michael Khan said, according to LifeSite News. “This is a smack in the face of our Catholic identity and values,” he added.

Durbin’s acceptance of the award comes after he voted against banning abortions past 20 weeks gestation. Bishop Thomas John Paprocki then barred the Catholic senator from taking Holy Communion. Also known as Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, the bill would have made it illegal for a person to perform or attempt to perform an abortion after 20-weeks gestation of pregnancy, with an exemption for rape victims. Transgressors would face fines and up to five years in prison. (RELATED: Senate Fails To Pass The 20-Week Abortion Ban)

“We are deeply honored and proud to recognize Senator Dick Durbin, a fighter for the rights of citizens in his home state of Illinois, across America and around the world,” Georgetown University Alumni Association Executive Director Bill Reynolds said, PR Newswire reported. 

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Numerous pro-life advocates and religious leaders are indignant that the senator could be recognized with such an award given his position on life. “How can America’s oldest Catholic university publicly honor a champion of abortion who has just been denied the Eucharist by his own bishop?” Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly asked, LifeSite News reported. “This honor directly opposes the pro-life work of the Church and Georgetown’s own Catholic mission,” he added.

Georgetown University did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment in time for publication.

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