The Durbin–Cupich Money Connection

Cardinal Blase Cupich has a long and friendly history with Senator Dick Durbin, who has pulled the federal purse strings for the Chicago archdiocese.

Durbin sits on the Senate Appropriation Committee, a seat he has occupied for nearly three decades. The committee is one of the most powerful and significant bodies in the U.S. Senate.

It “writes the legislation that allocates federal funds to the numerous government agencies, departments, and organizations on an annual basis.” In other words, it controls where federal money goes and how much is given.

Every U.S. government agency relies on the Appropriations Committee for funding. This includes a broad range of special interests, including some of the most powerful: defense contractors, oil and gas companies and bankers, among others.

In 2020, in a staged phone call, Durbin, along with fellow Illinois Democrat Sen. Tammy Duckworth, spoke with Cupich about increased funding for Catholic Charities Chicago. At the time, Catholic Charities was experiencing a loss in revenue, and Durbin used the highly publicized phone call to stress his support for more money to flow to Cupich’s archdiocese.

“I will continue to work with my Senate colleagues to provide nonprofits the financial support they need to weather this storm and continue helping the most vulnerable in our state,” Durbin said on the call.

Earlier that year, Durbin had co-signed a letter urging the Senate to include emergency funding for nonprofits like Catholic Charities Chicago.

Several months after that call, Durbin’s committee approved expanded COVID relief for nonprofits, which directly benefited the Chicago archdiocese.

Catholic Charities received $1.4 billion total, with more than $8 million going to Chicago’s arm — the single largest PPP loan of all Catholic Charities affiliates in the country. The second highest was the San Francisco archdiocese, with a loan of nearly $6 million.

The Chicago archdiocese itself received $77 million from the Paycheck Protection Program.

It was the second-highest award for all Catholic archdioceses, with Los Angeles taking top place at $80 million. Third highest was the archdiocese of Boston, which received $35 million.

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