Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Essay, Research Paper

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was born on April 2,1928, in Columbia, South

Carolina. He was son of Mrs. Marie M. Simon Bernardin, and the late Joseph

Bernardin. Cardinal Bernardin attended Catholic and public schools and the

University of South Carolina in Columbia. He was later accepted as a candidate

for the priesthood by Most Rev. John J. Russell, then Bishop of Charleston. He

studied at the following Colleges: St.Mary’s, St. Mary, Kentucky, St.Mary

Seminary, Baltimore, Maryland, where he received the Bachelor of Arts degree in

philosophy. He also attended the Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.

where he received the Master of Arts degree in Education in 1952.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop John J. Russell on April

26,1952, in St. Joseph Church, Columbia. His administrative skills were

immediately recognized. During his 14 years in the Diocese of Charleston, he

served under four bishops in many capacities, including the officed of

chancellor, vicar general, diocesan consular, and administrator of the diocese.

On March 9,1966, Pope Paul VI appointed Msgr. Bernardin Auxiliary Bishop

of Atlanta. In doing this he became the youngest Bishop in the county. On July

10,1982, Pope John Paul II reappointed Archbishop Bernardin to Archbishop of

Chicago. His installation took at Holy Name Cathedral on August 25,1982. Later

Archbishop Bernardin went to the College of Cardinals. On February 2,1983 he

received his “red hat.”

On September 9,1996 President Clinton awarded Cardinal Bernardin the

Presidential Medal of Freedom. In presenting the Metal, the President cited

Cardinal Bernardin’s work on behalf of racial equality and arms control and

noted he ?has been a persistent voice for moderation.? Cardinal Bernardin was

Chancellor of the Catholic Extension Society and the University of St. Mary of

the Lake,Mundelein,IL.

He is a founding member and Vice-Chairman of the Religious Alliance

Against Pornography. In the more recent years before his death, he was a member

of the Catholic Charities USA National Development Task Force and the Board of

Trustees of the Catholic Health Association as well as chairman of the ad hoc

Committee on the Structure and function of the NCCB/USCC.

Cardinal Bernardin received numerous honorary doctorates from colleges

and universities in the US and Europe. Cardinal Bernardin’s extensive writings

touch open a variety of topics, religious, moral and social. One of these is

the famous and challenging Consistent Ethic of Life, a collection of ten major

addresses on the topic of the “Consistent Ethic.”

He touched us all!