Thomas John Joseph Paprocki (born August 5, 1952) is an American prelate of the Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois since 2010.

[2] A lifelong fan of hockey—who is sometimes referred to in the media as the "Holy Goalie"[3][4][5][6][7]—he began playing at a young age in the basement of his father's drugstore and supports the Chicago Blackhawks professional hockey team.

[1] As an auxiliary bishop, Paprocki served as episcopal vicar for Vicariate IV, and as the cardinal's liaison for Polonia and for health and hospital affairs.

[12] In April 2012, Paprocki was named as part of a three-member board of American Catholic bishops charged by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) with a multi-year investigation into the U.S.

[14] 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.

Paprocki said this decree was due to their roles in passing the Reproductive Health Act, which removes spousal consent and waiting periods for abortions.

While singling out Madigan and Cullerton specifically, Paprocki also asked that other Catholic legislators who voted for the bill not present themselves for communion either, stating that they had "cooperated in evil and committed grave sin.

"[18] Madigan stated that Paprocki had informed him earlier that he would be forbidden from taking communion if he permitted the House to debate and vote on the measure, but that he chose to do so.

In a letter to campus newspaper The Observer, Paprocki and Bradley cited a statement from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith arguing that "persons may — not must — get vaccinated."

He declared that voting for a candidate who promotes actions or behaviors that are "intrinsically evil and gravely sinful" makes one "morally complicit" and places the eternal salvation of the soul in "serious jeopardy."

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.

He also argued that party differences over caring for the poor and immigration were "prudential judgments about the most effective means of achieving morally desirable ends, not intrinsic evils.

"[25] Ahead of the 2016 elections, Paprocki denounced the Democratic Party for its "aggressive pro-abortion stance and activist agenda expanding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights," adding that Republicans "have not fared very well in these same areas."

He 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.

Paprocki also 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.

[32][33] In 2023, Paprocki wrote a newspaper column defending the criminalization of homosexual acts in Uganda, with penalties including death or life imprisonment.

"[36] Paprocki called for "public prayers of repentance and acts of atonement" in 2018 after reports of widespread sexual abuse and coverup in the Catholic Church.

[37] Paprocki dissented from the amicus brief filed by the USCCB in support of public employee labor unions in the 2018 Janus v/ AFSCME case before the US Supreme Court.

Paprocki cites Pope Leo XIII's critical encyclical Rerum novarum paragraph 57 to show that Catholic support of organized labor has never been unconditional:[40]"To sum up, then, We may lay it down as a general and lasting law that working men's associations should be so organized and governed as to furnish the best and most suitable means for attaining what is aimed at, that is to say, for helping each individual member to better his condition to the utmost in body, soul, and property.