c. 1996 Religion News Service

Bernardin reported gravely ill, battles criticism on `Common Ground’

As Chicago Cardinal Joseph Bernardin sought to quell criticism this week from fellow bishops over his attempt to heal divisions among liberal and conservative American Catholics, a Chicago television station reported the 68-year-old prelate has less than a year to live.

Quoting unidentified sources, WLS-TV reported Friday that doctors had discovered the cardinal’s cancer had returned. Bernardin’s spokesman, Bob Quakenbush, declined comment, saying the cardinal would make his own announcement at a press conference later in the day.

“He has a very personal story that he’d like to share with the people of the archdiocese,” Quakenbush told the Associated Press.

Bernardin is the nation’s senior ranking Catholic official who is renowned for his humility, diplomacy and erudition. He underwent surgery for pancreatic cancer in June 1995. Though he was still receiving chemotherapy treatments in early August, the archdiocese issued a recent statement indicating that the cardinal was cancer-free.

Friday’s health disclosure came one day after Bernardin responded to criticism from some of his fellow church leaders of his plan to hold a series of conferences to heal divisions among Catholics who disagree on issues such as birth control, abortion, priestly celibacy and the role of women in the church.”While millions of Catholics of good will cannot deny their concerns and dissatisfactions, they do not want to be drawn into some basically hostile posture toward the church and its teaching,”Bernardin said, in a 12-page statement issued Thursday.”It is essential that we offer these faithful people guidelines and models of dialogue.” Some of Bernardin’s fellow bishops _ notably Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, Washington, D.C. Cardinal James Hickey and Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua of Philadelphia _ were sharply critical of the project, which they said would undermine the authority of the church.

The church leaders also have criticized a statement prepared, with Bernardin’s approval, by the National Pastoral Life Center, a church think tank in New York City, that called for more discussion among Catholic laity of divisive moral and social issues.

Though Bernardin’s statement made no specific mention of the criticisms voiced by some of his fellow bishops, he reasserted his commitment to the Common Ground Project.”It should be clear that our focus is pastoral, not doctrinal,”he said.”We are not trying to change the Church’s teaching by some method of consensus or polling. We are primarily concerned with building up the Church’s unity by addressing many serious questions where Catholics may understandably disagree among themselvesâÂ?¦I firmly believe that the ultimate test of this new initiative will be the one that Scripture proposes: if it is of God, it will bear fruit.”

A first for Money Magazine: Schools with religious ties make list

(RNS) For the first time, Money Magazine has included schools with religious affiliations in its list of 100 top colleges.

Those rankings are markedly different from last year’s listings, which excluded schools that required an affirmation of faith from students or included the study of religion as a”significant academic requirement.” Jillian Kasky, senior reporter on the project, said the magazine received complaints from a variety of religious organizations about the lack of religious schools in last year’s listing of top colleges.”They bombarded us with letters,”she said.

The rankings highlight the schools the magazine considered”the elite values in college education today”because they provide”the best education in America for the prices they charge.”No details were provided about the nature of each schools’ religious affiliation.

Here are Money Magazine’s top 10 schools with religious affiliation. In parentheses is each school’s overall ranking on the Money list.

_ Hanover College, Hanover, Ind. (11)

_ Grove City College, Grove City, Pa. (12)

_ Hendrix College, Conway, Ark. (16)

_ Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas (20)

_ Samford University, Birmingham,Ala. (26)

_ McPherson College in McPherson, Kan. (30)

_ Centre College in Danville, Ky. (33)

_ Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill. (34)

_ William Jewell College, Liberty, Mo. (52)

_ Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y. (55)

Catholic network beats out MTV for spot on naval base TV screens

(RNS) Whether they like it or not, some residents of a California Navy base can’t have their MTV.

The commander of Point Mugu Naval Air Weapons Station in Point Mugu, Calif., has replaced MTV on the base’s TV screens with the Catholic Eternal Word Television Network, the Associated Press reported.

Capt. Stephen Beal made the cancellation along with several others after surveying 1,100 Navy households. Seventeen of the 107 respondents said MTV should go.”Once you give a privilege, you have to make some decisions,”explained base spokesman Alan Alpers.”In this case, we have a finite number of channels and we try to offer a mix which mets the needs of our viewership.” Two other religion-related channels were added, as well as The History Channel and Lifetime.

But not everyone is happy.”Just because adults don’t like it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have it,”complained Nolan Smith, 15.”It’s not fair.”

Poles protest liberal abortion measure

An estimated 1,500 abortion foes marched through downtown Warsaw Thursday, singing hymns in protest of the Polish Parliament’s plan to liberalize the stringent anti-abortion law, the Associated Press reported.

The left-leaning Parliament was to vote Friday on a measure that would allow abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy.

Opponents argue the measure would restore liberal attitudes toward abortion that prevailed in Poland’s communist era. In 1993, Parliament essentially banned abortion and set prison terms for doctors who performed the procedure.

Quote of the Day: Television commentator Bill Moyers

Bill Moyers’ upcoming PBS series,”Genesis: A Living Conversation,”explores the nearly universal appeal of the Bible’s first book. He explained what led him to the project:”Almost every other human endeavor is the subject of continuing coverage by the media: economics, politics, and government, business, foreign policy, sports, sex, cooking, consumer interests, physical fitness, movies and entertainment, war, crime, even wrestling and now beach volleyball. But religion as a crucial force in American life; as the well-spring for values that reveal different aspirations for a moral and political order; as the exercise of free men and women to bring form to their lives from the chaos around them; as the interpretation of experience itself _ for this view of religion, there is on television no room at the inn.”END RNS