This Man Bernardin

When, in 1982, Joseph Louis Bernardin replaced John Patrick Cody as the Archbishop of Chicago, he inherited a diocese whose foundations had been rocked by internal strife and public scandal. Soon after his arrival, however, Bernardin began to weave his magic pastoral spell on Chicago Catholics with his grace, warmth and accessibility, and he breathed new life into a Church. In this beautifully rendered new book, Chicago Sun-Times photojournalist White draws upon his extensive archives to compile a luscious photographic essay on Bernardin's life and ministry. Through 186 black-and-white photographs, we follow the archbishop from his childhood in Columbia, S.C., through his seminary days and into his ministry to the sick, the poor and the wealthy. Selections from Bernardin's own lectures and writings introduce each chapter, and Bernardin biographer Eugene Kennedy's brief essays in each chapter provide biographical and historical context for White's photos. The portrait of the Archbishop that here emerges is one of an enormously popular messenger of the gospel whose love and compassion for others arises out of an intense devotion to God and family. (Sept.)