1. Thomas John Joseph Paprocki was born on August 5,1952 and is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois since 2010.
41 Facts About Thomas Paprocki
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Thomas Paprocki previously served as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Chicago in Illinois from 2003 to 2010.
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The third of nine children, Thomas Paprocki was born August 5,1952, in Chicago, Illinois; he has six brothers and two sisters.
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Thomas Paprocki graduated from Quigley Preparatory Seminary South in Chicago in 1970, and then entered Niles College in Chicago, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974.
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From 1974 to 1979, Paprocki studied at St Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, where he earned a Bachelor's in Sacred Theology, Master's in Divinity, and Licentiate in Sacred Theology.
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Thomas Paprocki was ordained to the priesthood at Saint Mary of the Lake for the Archdiocese of Chicago by Cardinal John Cody on May 10,1978.
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Thomas Paprocki studied law at DePaul University College of Law in Chicago, earning his Juris Doctor degree in 1981.
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Thomas Paprocki founded the Chicago Legal Clinic in his parish to assist the working poor and disadvantaged.
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In 1983, Thomas Paprocki left St Michael's to become parochial administrator of St Joseph Parish in Chicago.
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Thomas Paprocki then went to Rome to study at the Pontifical Gregorian University.
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Thomas Paprocki received a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1989 and a Doctor of Canon Law degree in 1991.
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Thomas Paprocki became pastor of St Constance Parish in Chicago in 2000.
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In 2013, Thomas Paprocki received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana.
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Thomas Paprocki began playing hockey at a young age in the basement of his father's drugstore.
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On January 24,2003, Thomas Paprocki was appointed auxiliary bishop of Chicago and titular bishop of Vulturaria by Pope John Paul II.
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Thomas Paprocki received his episcopal consecration on March 19,2003, from Cardinal Francis George, with bishops Raymond E Goedert and Ricardo Urquidi serving as co-consecrators.
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Thomas Paprocki was a board member of the Polish American Association and the Polish American Leadership Initiative.
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Thomas Paprocki was installed at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Springfield on June 22,2010.
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Thomas Paprocki coined the name of the Fortnight for Freedom, a campaign of the American bishops on behalf of religious liberty.
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Thomas Paprocki is episcopal board chair for the Catholic Athletes for Christ, and is the author of Running for a Higher Purpose and Holy Goals for Body and Soul.
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Thomas Paprocki is a long-distance runner, having completed 24 marathons by 2018.
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On June 6,2019, Thomas Paprocki issued a decree officially barring Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton, both Catholics, from receiving communion.
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Thomas Paprocki said this decree was due to their roles in passing the Reproductive Health Act, which removes spousal consent and waiting periods for abortions.
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Thomas Paprocki did emphasize that "each person has a moral duty to act responsibly out of concern for his or her neighbor by diligently following other safety measures," irrespective of vaccination status.
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In September 2012, Thomas Paprocki wrote a column in his diocese's Catholic Times newspaper about the upcoming US presidential elections.
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Thomas Paprocki took notice of the Republican Party's support for capital punishment in murder cases, stating that this did not directly conflict with Church teaching.
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Thomas Paprocki said that Catholics could choose not to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
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In November 2013, Thomas Paprocki said that Satan was behind the recent legalization of same-sex marriage in Illinois.
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Thomas Paprocki held an exorcism ceremony, reading exorcism rite "in reparation for the sin of same-sex marriage".
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Thomas Paprocki prohibited clergy and parish staff from either performing same-sex marriages or allowing wedding receptions to be hosted in any facilities or centres owned by the Catholic church.
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Thomas Paprocki criticized the Jesuit priest James Martin in 2017 for his outreach to the LGBTQ community.
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In 2023, Paprocki said that Cardinal Robert W McElroy's public pronouncements contradicted a "truth which is to be believed by divine and Catholic faith".
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Thomas Paprocki took issue with remarks made by McElroy in which he appeared to reject teaching that a Catholic must be in a state of grace to receive communion.
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Thomas Paprocki posed the question of an unnamed cardinal stating publicly that "homosexual acts are not sinful and same-sex unions should be blessed by the Church" as a further example of heterodox thought among Catholic leaders.
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In 2023, Thomas Paprocki wrote a newspaper column defending the criminalization of homosexual acts in Uganda, with penalties including death or life imprisonment.
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Thomas Paprocki disagreed with the USCCB, supporting a mandatory open shop for public employers.
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Thomas Paprocki has not been a visitor or spiritual guide at union halls but has collaborated with Legatus, an organization of Catholic corporate executives.
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Thomas Paprocki supported the Janus ruling to defend the conscience of the Catholic worker.
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Thomas Paprocki said that some public employee labor unions support what he considers as anti-Catholic stances; therefore, Catholic workers have the right to not support these groups.
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Thomas Paprocki cites Pope Leo XIII's critical encyclical Rerum novarum paragraph 57 to show that Catholic support of organized labor has never been unconditional:.
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Thomas Paprocki criticized Traditionis custodes, a July 2021 motu proprio issued by Pope Francis which imposed restrictions on the Tridentine Mass, the Mass commonly offered before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s and which still takes place in some churches.