Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture

Trends in the Global Church and Why Jews Should Care This program takes place at Northwestern University's Norris Center 1999 Campus Drive, Evanston Free parking available There is no cost for this program, but registration is requested. Click here to register. Join us for the 17th Joseph Cardinal Bernardin Jerusalem Lecture, an annual program that commemorates Cardinal Bernardin’s 1995 visit to Israel and continues the dialogue he advocated between Jews and Catholics. This year's lecture — titled Insights on Trends in the Global Church and Why Jews Should Care — will be presented by John L. Allen, Jr.

John L. Allen Jr. is the prize-winning Senior Correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter and the Senior Vatican Analyst for CNN. He is the author of six bestselling books on the Vatican and Catholic affairs, and writes frequently about the Catholic Church for major national and international publications.

Veteran religion writer Kenneth Woodward of Newsweek described Allen as “the journalist other reporters — and not a few cardinals — look to for the inside story.”

Allen’s work is admired across ideological divides. Liberal commentator Fr. Andrew Greeley calls his writing “indispensable” while the late Fr. Richard John Neuhaus, a conservative, called Allen’s reporting “possibly the best source of information on the Vatican published in the United States.” His weekly internet column, All Things Catholic, is widely read as a source of insight on the global Church.

Allen divides his time between Rome and Denver, Colorado. He holds a Master’s degree in Religious Studies from the University of Kansas.

John L. Allen's books include: Cardinal Ratzinger: The Vatican’s Enforcer of the Faith (Continuum, 2000), Conclave: The Politics, Personalities and Process of the Next Papal Election (Doubleday, 2002), All the Pope’s Men: The Inside Story of How the Vatican Really Thinks (Doubleday, 2004), The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope was Elected and What it Means for the Catholic Church (Doubleday, 2005), Opus Dei: An Objective Look behind the Myth and Reality of the Most Controversial Force in the Catholic Church (Doubleday, 2005), and The Future Church: How Ten Trends are Revolutionizing the Catholic Church (Doubleday, 2009).