Construction workers are seen outside the newly renovated National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in Chicago Jan. 19. For nearly 10 years the shrine, run by the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, has been closed for major restoration and the construction of an urban garden area. The 56-year-old shrine, scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2012, is dedicated to the first American citizen to be declared a saint. (CNS photo/Karen Callaway/Catholic New World)

But the National Shrine of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini, scheduled to reopen Sept. 30, marks the spot where Mother Cabrini, the first American citizen to be canonized and the universal patroness of immigrants, died. As such, it is the only one of Chicago's many shrines to be built on a spot of historical significance to the person that it honors.

The shrine building, constructed as an addition to Columbus Hospital in 1955, closed in 2002 after the hospital closed and was sold to developers.

It will reopen this fall with a new entranceway and lobby -- built as part of the ground floor of the neighboring condo building -- and with a new mission, said Sister Joan McGlinchey, a member of the general counsel of the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart, the order Mother Cabrini founded and brought to the United States in 1889.

Mother Cabrini died in 1917 and was canonized in 1946, and she had such a wide following that Cardinal Samuel Stritch, Chicago's archbishop from 1939 to 1958, helped build the shrine at Columbus Hospital nine years later, Sister Joan said.

But when the hospital was open, the shrine always served as a hospital chapel as well as a place of pilgrimage. It also was always supported by the hospital, even after the hospital itself became part of Catholic Health Partners and the sisters retained ownership of the attached shrine.

Then, Mass was celebrated twice daily, for a congregation made up mostly of hospital employees and the families of patients. When it reopens, Mass will be offered every weekend, and the shrine will be primarily a place of prayer and pilgrimage.

There were pilgrims before as well, said Father Theodore Ploplis, who became rector of the shrine when he was hired as chaplain of Columbus Hospital in 1987. He held that post until 2001 and will return to it this year.

"This was a place where a holy person lived and worked and died," said Father Ploplis, who currently is a chaplain at nearby St. Joseph Hospital.

Perhaps the most popular part of the shrine then was the replica of the room in the convent where Mother Cabrini died; the convent was torn down in the late 1960s or early 1970s, according to Sister Joan. The room that was attached to the shrine also has been torn down, but there will be a relic room in the new entrance space, Sister Joan said, and the first-class relic of Mother Cabrini -- an arm bone -- will be returned to the altar.

"It's not a museum," she told the Catholic New World, Chicago's archdiocesan newspaper. "But it is a place where we will have people visiting to learn about Mother Cabrini."

There's a lot for most people to learn. Sent to the United States by Pope Leo XIII to minister to immigrants, she traveled for nearly 30 years throughout the country and the world, founding orphanages, schools and hospitals. Father Ploplis said she was like the Mother Teresa of the turn of the last century, and was well known to politicians and civic leaders in Chicago, one of her main bases of operation.

When she was canonized, Catholics from all over the area filled the city's Soldier Field for a Mass of thanksgiving.

Several organizations who claim her as a patron plan to return to the shrine, Father Ploplis said, including the Knights of Columbus St. Catherine Council 182, the Mother Cabrini Regional Fraternity of the Secular Franciscan Order, the Catholic Physicians Guild and the St. Cabrini Adoration Society. There are plans to start eucharistic adoration at the shrine.

Father Ploplis also hopes to welcome non-Catholics and nonbelievers who might want to see the art and architecture of the shrine, which features walls made of Carrara marble, excavated from the same quarry used by Michelangelo; frescoes depicting the life of Mother Cabrini; and an Italian pipe organ, the only one of its kind in the United States. He hopes they will find a sense of peace there.

The priest and the Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart also plan to work with Catholic schools and with the Chicago-area immigrant community, Sister Joan said.

The sisters, meanwhile, are "very much trusting in God" as they work to create a viable plan to sustain the shrine. Their numbers in Chicago have dwindled to six, and they don't have the financial resources to operate the shrine on their own.

"It's a challenge, but it will make a contribution to the church here in Chicago," Sister Joan said.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie appears on "Meet the Press" in Washington Jan. 22. The Catholic governor, as he had promised to do, quickly vetoed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in the state Feb. 17 and renewed his call for a ballot question to decide the issue. The measure went to his desk after the state Assembly passed it Feb. 16, three days after the state Senate approved it. (CNS photo/William B. Plowman, courtesy NBC)

The state Assembly passed the bill Feb. 16 with a 42-33 vote. The state Senate approved it 24-16 Feb. 13.

When the bill reached his desk and he vetoed it, Christie said in a statement that "same-sex couples in a civil union deserve the very same rights and benefits enjoyed by married couples -- as well as the strict enforcement of those rights and benefits."

"Discrimination should not be tolerated and any complaint alleging a violation of a citizen's right should be investigated and, if appropriate, remedied," the Republican governor said, suggesting an ombudsman be appointed.

As the same-sex marriage measure moved through the Legislature, Christie, a Catholic, said legalizing marriage for same-sex couples should be put on the November ballot for voters to decide the issue.

In testimony at a Jan. 24 hearing, the executive director of the New Jersey Catholic Conference urged state lawmakers "to continue to recognize marriage as a union between one man and one woman. This is critical as marriage is the foundation of the family. The family, in turn, is the basic unit of society."

"Marriage as a union of one man and one woman has its roots not only in human tradition and history, but also in natural law, which transcends all man-made law," said Patrick Brannigan, executive director of the conference, which is the public policy arm of the state's Catholic bishops.

"Marriage is a natural institution," he said. "New Jersey, like other states, has from the beginning recognized marriage, honored it, and sought to support and protect it."

He also said while the Catholic Church opposes legalizing marriage for same-sex couples, it teaches that homosexuals "must be accepted with respect, compassion and sensitivity."

"The fundamental human rights of homosexuals must be defended and we must strive to eliminate any forms of injustice against homosexual persons," Brannigan said.

He noted that many supporters of same-sex marriage claim that the civil unions law "is not working," but that the state's Division of Civil Rights found that out of a total of 13 complaints filed since 2007, when the law was passed, authorities had found "probable cause" in only one of those complaints.

Brannigan also said couples in civil unions claim they are not able to participate in their partner's health care decisions, but he said the law guarantees they can, noting that Catholic-run health care facilities specifically allow individuals to designate "anyone they wish as a health care decision-maker."

Supporters of same-sex marriage criticized Christie's proposal to appoint an ombudsman to make sure the civil unions law is being upheld properly, saying that it is not an acceptable substitute for marriage for same-sex couples.

"It's not equal. It's not the same," Senate President Stephen Sweeney, a Democrat, told reporters. He and other advocates of legalizing same-sex marriage say it is a civil right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

The bill as passed by the Legislature included an exemption for religious leaders, churches and faith-based organizations so they could not be forced to perform marriage for same-sex couples or allow such couples the use of their facilities.

In Maryland, the House of Delegates Feb. 17 passed a measure to legalize same-sex marriage in that state. The Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee was expected to pass the House version Feb. 21 and advance it to the full Senate for consideration later in the week.

Pope Benedict XVI presents a red biretta to Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York during a consistory in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 18. The pope created 22 new cardinals from 13 countries -- including two from the United States and one from Canada. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The churchmen who joined the College of Cardinals Feb. 18 included Cardinals Timothy M. Dolan of New York; Edwin F. O'Brien, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and former archbishop of Baltimore; and Thomas C. Collins of Toronto.

In their first official act in their new role, the new cardinals were asked to join their peers in giving the pope their opinion, in writing, on the canonization of seven new saints, including Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, an American Indian, and Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai, Hawaii.

The pope announced at the consistory that the canonization ceremony would be celebrated Oct. 21 at the Vatican.

Cardinal Collins said, "I am delighted that my first action as a cardinal was to join with the College of Cardinals in affirming the canonization of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, who has been such an inspiration for the people of our First Nations and so many others in Canada and the United States."

Cardinal Dolan also mentioned the consultation on the canonization of Blessed Kateri, who was born in what is now New York state, and Mother Marianne, who served there before going to Hawaii.

"As grateful as I am for being a cardinal," he told reporters later, "I really want to be a saint. I mean that, but I have a long way to go."

St. Peter's Basilica was filled to overflowing for the ceremony, and several thousand people sat in a sunny St. Peter's Square watching on large video screens. Choirs from New York and from several Italian dioceses provided music for the service.

At the end of the ceremony, the College of Cardinals had 213 members, 125 of whom were under the age of 80 and, therefore, eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a new pope.

The consistory took the form of a prayer service. After the Gospel reading, in what the Vatican described as an allocution, not a homily, the pope told the cardinals that love and service, not an air of greatness, are to mark their lives as cardinals.

"Dominion and service, egoism and altruism, possession and gift, self-interest and gratuitousness: These profoundly contrasting approaches confront each other in every age and place," Pope Benedict said, but the cardinals must model their lives on that of Jesus, loving others to the point of giving up his life for them.

Cardinal O'Brien told reporters afterward that the ceremony and the pope's remarks underlined that becoming a cardinal "is not a reward, it brings on greater responsibilities -- something the pope experiences every day."

He said that when he knelt before the pope, "I thanked him; I said I'd serve him completely with my whole heart."

Cardinal Dolan, who delivered the main address on evangelization at a meeting of the College of Cardinals the day before, said that when he knelt before the pope, the pope thanked him again for his presentation. "I said thank you, for this, I'm the one who is grateful," he said.

"The Gospel and the homily were very sobering," he said, because they recalled the words of Jesus that "we're not in it for the prestige, we're not in it for the honor, we're not in it for the glory. We're in it to serve."

In all things, Pope Benedict had told them, "the new cardinals are entrusted with the service of love: love for God, love for his church, an absolute and unconditional love for his brothers and sisters, even unto shedding their blood, if necessary," a fact underlined by the red color of the biretta -- a three-cornered hat -- and the red cardinal's robes.

"He is servant inasmuch as he welcomes within himself the fate of the suffering and sin of all humanity. His service is realized in total faithfulness and complete responsibility toward mankind," the pope said.

"The free acceptance of his violent death becomes the price of freedom for many," he told the new cardinals, praying that "Christ's total gift of self on the cross" would be "the foundation, stimulus and strength" of their faith and that it would be reflected in their love and charity toward others.

During the ceremony, Pope Benedict placed rings on the fingers of the 22 new cardinals and assigned them a "titular church" in Rome, making them full members of the Rome clergy and closer collaborators of the pope in governing the universal church.

Cardinal O'Brien's titular church is the historic Church of St. Sebastian on the Palatine Hill. Cardinal Collins was assigned the Church of St. Patrick in the Via Veneto neighborhood, where an English-speaking congregation worships; and Cardinal Dolan became the titular cardinal of the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Monte Mario neighborhood.

The new cardinals, the pope said, "will be called to consider and evaluate the events, the problems and the pastoral criteria which concern the mission of the entire church."

The pope asked the new cardinals "to serve the church with love and vigor, with the transparency and wisdom of teachers, with the energy and strength of shepherds, with the fidelity and courage of martyrs."

The Bible reading at the service was taken from the Gospel of Mark and recounted how the disciples were tempted by the idea of honor, but Jesus told them that greatness means becoming the servant of all.

"Serving God and others, self-giving: This is the logic which authentic faith imparts and develops in our daily lives and which is not the type of power and glory which belongs to this world," the pope told them.

An awareness of the truth of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ makes life "rich and beautiful" and is essential for sharing the Christian faith with others, the pope said Feb. 17 at the end of a daylong meeting of the College of Cardinals.

Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington talks with cardinals as he arrives for a vespers service with Pope Benedict XVI in the synod hall at the Vatican Feb. 17. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)

The pope thanked Cardinal-designate Timothy M. Dolan of New York, who gave the day's main presentation on missionary activity and the new evangelization. The pope said the New York prelate's talk was "enthusiastic, joyful and profound."

In his morning address to the group, which included most of the 21 other churchmen who were to be made cardinals with him Feb. 18, Cardinal-designate Dolan said secularism has had an easy time spreading through many traditionally Christian cultures because so many Christians do not know their faith and do not grasp the truth it teaches.

While the New York prelate did not downplay the challenges the church faces in reviving the faith of its members and bringing the Gospel to those who have never heard it, he delivered his assessment with his characteristic smile and broad gestures, telling Pope Benedict and the cardinals that evangelization requires joy and love.

"When I became the archbishop of New York, a priest told me, 'You better stop smiling when you walk the streets of Manhattan or you'll be arrested,'" he said, but he still believes Christians must show the world that faith is saying yes "to everything decent, good, true, beautiful and noble."

The meeting was attended by 133 prelates, including at least 20 of the 22 who were to receive their red hats from the pope the following morning.

During the morning session, Pope Benedict did not address the assembly and was not one of the seven participants who commented on the presentation by Cardinal-designate Dolan, although the pope did laugh when the New York archbishop made fun of his speaking Italian "like a child."

The morning session also featured a brief presentation by Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, on plans for the 2012-2013 Year of Faith.

The pope spoke at the end of the evening session, after another 20 cardinals and cardinals-designate had taken the floor to speak.

Pope Benedict told the assembly that the teachings of the Second Vatican Council were important for "rediscovering the relevance of Jesus and of faith" today, and he echoed Cardinal-designate Dolan's call for a true renewal of catechesis to combat what has been defined as "religious illiteracy."

In his morning presentation, Cardinal-designate Dolan said that when Cardinal Angelo Sodano, dean of the College of Cardinals, asked him to be the main presenter, he hinted that he did so because New York "might be the 'capital of secular culture.'"

"New York -- without denying its dramatic evidence of graphic secularism -- is also a very religious city," he said, where even those "who boast of their secularism" exhibit an openness to the divine and have questions about God.

While secularism "is invading every aspect of daily life," the New York prelate said, it also is true that most people, on some level, still question the ultimate meaning of life and still ponder the idea of God.

"Even a person who brags about being secular and is dismissive of religion has within an undeniable spark of interest in the beyond, and recognizes that humanity and creation is a dismal riddle without the concept of some kind of creator," he said.

The cardinal-designate said those people don't want to be considered objects of missionary activity, but Christians have an obligation to help them maintain their search for meaning in life.

Humility, joy and love are key to the success of the evangelization efforts of the church and its members, he said.

"Triumphalism in the church was dead" after the Second Vatican Council, he said, but "so was confidence."

Catholics recognize that they and their church need conversion, too, he said. And, they must be convinced that what they are sharing with others is not a doctrine, but the person of Jesus.

At the same time, because Jesus is the truth, Catholics must make a commitment "to combat catechetical illiteracy," he said.

"True enough, the new evangelization is urgent because secularism has often choked the seed of faith, but that choking was sadly made easy because so many believers really had no adequate knowledge or grasp of the wisdom, beauty and coherence of the truth," he said.

Cardinal-designate Dolan said that on the eve of receiving his red hat from the pope, he also had to speak of the fact that Christians are called to love and serve the church and their neighbors, even to the point of shedding their blood if necessary.

The cardinals, he said, "are but 'scarlet audiovisual aids' for all our brothers and sisters," who also are called "to be ready to suffer and die for Jesus."

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, did not release the names of the 27 cardinals who intervened in the discussion, but he summarized the points that were made. Several of the cardinals, he said, spoke about the difficulties evangelizing in their specific countries or cultures.

Mention was made of the growing number of Christians in China, "despite the difficulties," presumably with government control over religion; about interreligious dialogue and the fight against poverty in India; the important role of popular religious devotions for evangelization in Latin America; and about secularism's attempts to marginalize religion in the West.

Participants insisted on the importance of ecumenism for fostering a common Christian witness to the faith, on the continuing relevance of the Second Vatican Council as a guide for the church today and on the value of Christian joy and holiness for evangelization, he said.

By resolving a "needless dispute," Congress and the Obama administration "could return to the most pressing of all the real problems -- the fact that many millions of Americans still lack basic coverage for health care," said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.

In a three-page letter to senators, Cardinal DiNardo said the legislation -- which now has 37 sponsors in the Senate -- might come up for a vote soon, "either as a free-standing bill or an amendment."

Calling the bill "needed, reasonable and carefully crafted," he said it "simply ensures that new requirements" under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act "are not used to take away a freedom of conscience that Americans have enjoyed under federal law until now."

The bishops "saw the need for this legislation," the cardinal said, when Congress passed health care reform and "authorized new lists of federally mandated benefits for all health plans without including language to preserve rights of conscience."

The cardinal rejected the final rule announced Feb. 10 by President Barack Obama that would allow organizations with religious objections to the Department of Health and Human Services' requirement that all health insurance plans cover contraceptives and sterilization to decline to cover them, but then compel the insurers to provide contraceptives free of charge to women they insure.

Under that plan, religious employers will be required to "include the same objectionable coverage as purely secular employers do -- but the decision to do so will simply be taken away from them, as the coverage will be inserted into their plan directly by the insurer over their objections," he said.

The objecting employers will still pay for the coverage, he added, because it "will be integrated into their overall health plan and subsidized with the premiums paid by employer and employee for that plan."

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius first announced the contraception requirement along with a religious exemption Jan. 20. Catholic and other religious leaders say the exemption is written so narrowly that institutions such as hospitals, schools and social service agencies would not qualify.

Since Obama announced his final rule, questions have been raised over how it will pertain to self-insured parties, like many dioceses and Catholic organizations.

Cardinal DiNardo called the contraception requirement "a radical departure from current law, under which a health plan that excludes contraception can be sold even to federal employees if the carrier has any religious objections to such coverage."

"In short, we are back to square one -- except that the rule so many hoped would change to accommodate Americans' right of conscience is no longer subject to change, except by legislation," he said.

The Respect for Rights of Conscience Act stipulates that the list of mandated benefits under the health reform law will not forbid those who provide, sponsor or purchase health coverage from negotiating a health plan that is consistent with their religious beliefs and moral convictions.

The cardinal also offered rebuttals to some misinterpretations about what the proposed law would and would not do:

-- No "stakeholder in the health coverage enterprise" would be required to provide or accept the negotiated plan. "But if all involved find an accommodation acceptable and workable, why would the federal government not allow it -- as it always has in the past?" he asked.

-- It does not overturn other existing state or federal laws, including present state contraceptive mandates.

-- It would not "provide any support for discriminatory decisions to withhold basic coverage from some while giving it to others," such as a decision to deny life-saving care to people with AIDS or the virus that causes it.

-- It would not "allow anyone to deny coverage for high-cost treatments, using morality and religion as a pretext."

Cardinal DiNardo said the Catholic Church, "driven precisely by its faith, is eager to work with Congress and the administration to address (the) grave problem" of the lack of basic health care for millions.

"Let us begin the task by respecting each other's values that call so many of us to work for life-affirming health care for all in the first place," he added.