Joseph Cardinal Bernardin is widely regarded as having had more impact on the Catholic Church inthe United States than any other bishop this century. By the time of his death in 1996 he had attracted therespect and affection of millions around the world. Selected Works of Joseph CardinalBernardin provides in two volumes the "essential" Bernardin for those interested in the faith, ecclesialvision, and pastoral insights of this great church leader.

The first volume, Homilies and Teaching Documents, captures the care and sensitivity withwhich Cardinal Bernardin carried out his teaching ministry as Archbishop of Chicago. It consists of hispastoral letters, reflections, and statements on liturgy, ministry, the Church, health care, religiouseducation, Christology, consecrated life, AIDS, the Catholic Charismatic Movement, the permanentdiaconate, and youth. The volume also includes Bernardin's interventions at four Synods of Bishops.Clergy, lay ministers and leaders will find the selected homilies, on a wide range of subjects, to be ofparticular value to their life and ministry.

Volume 2: Church and Society features addresses in six areas that are most often associatedwith Bernardin: peacemaking, consistent ethic of life, religion and society, health care, Catholic-Jewishdialogue, and the Catholic Common Ground Initiative. It also contains addresses on such favorite topicsof Bernardin's as ecclesial vision and mission, evangelization, Catholic education, religion andspirituality, pastoral ministry, and pastoral outreach.

Future generations will undoubtedly discover that the Church has changed from the time whenCardinal Bernardin served as Archbishop of Chicago, but they will also find in his words "pearls of greatvalue" whose relevance and inspiration extend well beyond the twentieth century into the thirdmillennium of Christianity. All the faithfulbishops, priests, deacons, women and men religious, and lay ministers andleaders both today and for years to comewill receive insights into the Church through the faith,the thinking, and the vision of this man of God.

"The collection shows that Cardinal Bernardin took enormous interest in his teaching role . . ."
Catholic Chronicle

"This collection . . . provides a record of some of the best thinking about the Catholic Church inAmerica in the post-Vatican II era. A great achievement."
Robert Schreiter, C.PP.S., Founding Director
The Cardinal Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry

"Joseph Cardinal Bernardin was a peerless teacher of the Catholic faith. These documents are anillustration of the range of his pastoral service to the mission of the truth. I was privileged to be hisauxiliary bishop during that period when he composed most of these documents. I remember withrespect how he always approached his office of teacher with the greatest care. These documents shedlight on both his spiritual wisdom as well as his prudent insight into the life of the Church."
Wilton D. Gregory
Bishop of Belleville

The "essential" Bernardin
This collection may be considered the "essential" Bernardin. Whether it is a pastoral letter, a synodalintervention, a reflection on the challenge facing catechists, or a homily, the consistency of Bernardin'smessage is clear.

Bernardin speaks and writes from and to the lived experience of faith in the Church of his day,attentive to the complexities and ambiguities of contemporary Christian life.

He examines human and Christian experience in all its beauty and its brokenness, in the light ofChristian history and tradition.

Bernardin rekindles the gift of hope and cultivates resources of creativity as the Church looks tothe future.

Bernardin's contributions to the Church and society
As archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Bernardin made major contributions in the areas of Churchteaching, but he is especially widely known for his work in the following areas:

PeacemakingBernardin served as chairman of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' adhoc committee on War and Peace. He received the 1983 Albert Einstein Peace Award.

Consistent Ethic of LifeBernardin developed and applied the theme of a consistent ethic of lifeto such issues as war, abortion, political campaigns, conception, natural death, capital punishment, andpoverty.

Religion and SocietyBernardin focused on the interaction between religion and society,Catholic institutions and the secular world, and the Church and U.S. culture. He was awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to communities and the nation.

Heath careBernardin was awarded the American Hospital Association's Award of Honorposthumously "for teaching others how to die with grace and live with compassion."

Catholic-Jewish DialogueBernardin's extraordinary contributions towards promotinginterfaith understanding between Jews and Catholics were well-received and widely disseminated.

Catholic Common Ground InitiativeBernardin's Initiative indicated the need for a commonground of dialoguea building up of the unity of the Church. His mandate continues to be implementednationally.