Bernardin, Joseph Louis Cardinal

▪ 1997

      U.S. Roman Catholic prelate (b. April 2, 1928, Columbia, S.C.—d. Nov. 14, 1996, Chicago, Ill.), was the highest-ranking figure in the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. and for some three decades was at the centre of most of its important developments. A moderate and a consensus builder, he was considered a possible successor to Pope John Paul II. Bernardin earned a B.A. (1948) from St. Mary's Seminary, Baltimore, Md., and an M.A. (1952) from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. He was ordained a priest in 1952 and he spent 14 years in Charleston, S.C. He became the youngest bishop in the U.S. when he was appointed auxiliary bishop of Atlanta, Ga., in 1966. Bernardin served (1968-72) as general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, guiding the reorganization of the U.S. church following the second Vatican Council, and for the next 10 years was archbishop of Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he was president of the national conference from 1974 to 1977. In 1982 Bernardin was named archbishop of Chicago, and he was elevated to cardinal the following year. In 1983 the publication of a U.S. bishops' pastoral letter on nuclear war, "The Challenge of Peace," brought Bernardin to public notice. His guidance as chair of the committee that produced the antinuclear document was illustrative of his ability to find a common ground. In 1987 he guided the formulation of a policy of tolerance concerning educational programs advocating the use of condoms in AIDS-prevention efforts, and in 1991, after the church had been shaken by scandals involving priests' sexual abuse of minors, he established procedures for investigating and dealing with these incidents. Two years later Bernardin was accused of having sexually abused a young man in the 1970s. He strongly denied the charges, and his accuser recanted four months later. Shortly before his accuser died from AIDS in late 1994, Bernardin met and prayed with him. In June 1995 Bernardin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and though he went into remission after surgery and chemotherapy and radiation treatment, the cancer recurred. Facing death with dignity and serenity, Bernardin extended his ministry to large numbers of cancer patients and the dying. A week before his death, in a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court, he urged that the right to physician-assisted suicide not be recognized. In September 1996 Bernardin was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

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