By Msgr. Noel C. Burtenshaw

Her brother has just been named archbishop of the largest archdiocese in the country. Is she surprised? "Well, yes. Of course, I certainly am. But I know he's brilliant, a very hard worker. And he's very humble. It's wonderful."

Sounds just like a little sister.

That's what Elaine Addison is. The little and only sister of Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin, the man chosen by Pope John Paul II to succeed Cardinal John Cody in the Archdiocese of Chicago. From her home in Columbia, SC, Elaine spoke to us as doorbells rang, neighbors called and reporters from Chicago dailies sat in her front room. ("I think they are going to Atlanta, do you want to speak with them?")

Elaine, who is married to James H. Addison, an engineer, talked about growing up in Columbia along with her only brother. "My father was a stone cutter," says Elaine, "who came from Italy along with my mother and they settled here. Joe was four years older than I. He went to Catholic grade school but to public high school in Columbia.

"He was a good student and, since my father died when we were both young, Joe sort of took care of things around the home. He really wanted to be a doctor and even went to pre-med at the University of South Carolina. But, I believe, a job he took at the hospital one summer changed all that."

The hospital mentioned by Elaine Addison is Providence Catholic Hospital in Columbia. "After working there," continues Elaine, "he decided that there was something else he should do. He just told my mother and me that he would go to the seminary. That's how it happened."

There were other jobs for the young student in those days, too. "He worked at a drycleaners one summer," remembers Elaine, "but when he began his studies at the seminary he would come home and work in the Catholic Summer Camp run by the Diocese of Charleston."

"He was not very athletic," says Elaine. "He was just another young man growing up, a lot of fun at times and always a straight A student."

Elaine and husband, James, who plan to be in Chicago for the installation, have four children. "Joe baptized them all," says Elaine. "There is Anna Maria, who is now married, James, 20 years old, Joe (called after his uncle), 16 and Angela, who is 12."

Mrs. Maria Bernardin, mother of Elaine and the archbishop, now lives in Cincinnati and is "very happy for her son's appointment."

"However, she will miss her friends in Cincinnati," says Elaine, "when she moves to Chicago. She has been with him in Cincinnati for many years, maintaining her own home. So she will do likewise in Chicago."

Elaine and her family would see the archbishop when they paid a visit to Mrs. Bernardin. "He is on the go all the time," says Elaine. "But it is good to have time together on those occasions. I'm looking forward to seeing him again soon."

When her then-38-year-old brother was appointed as auxiliary bishop to Atlanta in 1966, Elaine was at home resting with her four-day-old son, Joseph. "I was not able to be with him on that occasion," says the happy sister of the archbishop, "but I am planning to be in Chicago. I would not miss it."