Francis Cardinal George, O.M.I.
Archdiocese of Chicago
Born in Chicago, Illinois on January 16, 1937, his Eminence Francis Eugene Cardinal George, O.M.I. is the first native Chicagoan to serve as Archbishop of Chicago. He studied theology at the University of Ottawa, Canada and was ordained in the Oblates of Mary Immaculate on December 21, 1963 at the age of 26. George earned a master's degree in philosophy at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1965 and a doctorate in American philosophy at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1970. In 1971, he received a master's degree in theology from the University of Ottawa. From 1973-74, he was Provincial Superior of the Midwestern Province for the Oblates in St. Paul, Minnesota. He was then elected Vicar General of the Oblates and served in Rome from 1974-1986. He returned to the United States and became coordinator of the Circle of Fellows for the Cambridge Center for the Study of Faith and Culture in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1987-90). During that time, he also obtained a Doctorate of Sacred Theology in ecclesiology from the Pontifical University Urbaniana in Rome (1988). He was appointed Bishop of Yakima, Washington (USA) by Pope John Paul II on July 10, 1990. He was made Archbishop of Portland, Oregon on April 30, 1996 and then Archbishop of Chicago on April 8, 1997 following the death of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. He became a Cardinal on February 21, 1998.
After the Consistory, George was also appointed a member of the Holy See's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, and the Pontifical Council “Cor Unum.” In 1999, Pope John Paul II appointed George to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pontifical Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. In 2001, the Pope appointed him to the Congregation for Oriental Churches and, in 2004, he appointed George to the Pontifical Council for Culture. He is Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Committee on Liturgy, and a member of the USCCB ad hoc Committee on Shrines and the Subcommittee on Campus Ministry. He also serves as consultant to the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities and the Subcommittee on Lay Ministry. Previously, he served on the USCCB Committees on Doctrine, on Latin America, on Missions, on Religious Life, the American Board of Catholic Missions, on World Missions, and on the ad hoc Committee to Oversee the Use of the Catechism. He is the USCCB Representative to the International Commission on English in the Liturgy (since 1997). He is also the Chancellor of the Catholic Church Extension Society (since 1997) and the University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Illinois (since 1997). He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Catholic University of America (since 1993), a Trustee of the Papal Foundation (since 1997), a member of the Board of Directors of the National Catholic Bio-ethics Center in Boston (since 1994), and a member of the Board of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (since 1997). He has been the Episcopal Liaison to the Catholic Campus Ministry Association Executive Board since 1998 and is now also Episcopal Moderator for the Ministry of Transportation Chaplains (2003). He also served as Episcopal Advisor to the Cursillo Movement, Region XII, from 1990 to 1997. Since 1990, he has been Episcopal Moderator and member of the board of the National Catholic Office for Persons with Disabilities. He is a member of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, the American Society of Missiologists and the Catholic Commission on Intellectual and Cultural Affairs. He is publisher of The Catholic New World and Chicago Catolico, the official newspapers of the Archdiocese of Chicago. He writes a column frequently in The Catholic New World. He is also interviewed monthly on “Catholic Community of Faith,” a radio program sponsored by the Archdiocese on WSCN 820-AM, and he is on the Chicago Loop Cable Ch. 25 program “The Church, The Cardinal and You.” As Archbishop of Chicago, he has issued two pastoral letters: on evangelization, “Becoming an Evangelizing People,” (November 21, 1997) and on racism, “Dwell in My Love” (April 4, 2001).
George was an invited speaker for our Culture of Life, and delivered the keynote address titled "The Legacy of Pope John Paul II" at our Formation and Renewal conference.
