By Daniel Tepfer
Connecticut Post
February 23, 2009
http://www.connpost.com/ci_11768001
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| Cardinal Edward Egan receives communion from Bishop William E. Lori, the man who succeeded Egan... |
The legacy of Cardinal Edward Egan in handling allegations of sexual abuse by priests while he was bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport remains controversial in the Fairfield County diocese.
His name still provokes anger among dozens of people and their families who claim they were abused in their youth by Bridgeport diocesan priests, while his defenders say he deserves credit for trying to address the abuse allegations.
Church documents obtained by the Connecticut Post over a span of more than 10 years show that Egan was made aware of specific allegations of abuse by priests when he became bishop here in 1988. However, not only did Egan not report the alleged abuse to police or other legal authorities, he allegedly covered up the allegations, moving offending priests around the diocese.
The Bridgeport diocese paid nearly $40 million in settlements to dozens of people who claimed they were abused by more than a dozen priests in the diocese since the 1960s. Most of the settlements were reached days after Egan left the diocese in June 2000 to become archbishop of New York.
"He really tried to prevent any effort to get at the heart of the sexual-abuse matter," said Joseph O'Callaghan, a founder of the local branch of Voice of the People, an organization of Roman Catholics who advocate more lay participation in the church. "He set a pattern of preventing any of it [abuse complaints] from coming out."
That view was challenged by James Stapleton, a lawyer for the diocese. "Almost everything that occurred, occurred before Cardinal Egan came to Bridgeport," he said. "He was responsible for trying to resolve these matters and he started the process that we completed under Bishop Lori to the mutual satisfaction of the diocese and the claimants."
But Cindy L. Robinson, a lawyer for the firm of Tremont & Sheldon, which represented many of the plaintiffs in the child-abuse cases against the Diocese of Bridgeport, said, "From the beginning Cardinal Egan tried to distance himself from the clergy sex abuse scandal. I really don't feel that he ever addressed it."
In one instance cited in church documents, Egan in 1989 assigned the Rev. Martin Federici, who according to church documents had been accused of abusing several children, to the former Cathedral High School in Bridgeport. Federici was moved to another post in the diocese after complaints were made that he abused a male student at the high school.
In January 1993, the first lawsuit was filed against the diocese claiming the Rev. Raymond Pcolka sexually abused two children in the early 1980s. When the lawsuit was filed, diocesan officials adamantly denied they had ever previously received a complaint of abuse against Pcolka. But court documents later showed the diocese had been in negotiations since 1989 with a lawyer representing people who claimed they were abused as children by Pcolka. A total of 16 people would later claim they were abused by Pcolka in the early 1980s at parishes in Bridgeport and Stratford, but the diocese did not suspend the priest until March 1993.
In October 2003, Bishop William E. Lori, who succeeded Egan as the bishop of Bridgeport in 2000, publicly apologized to those abused by priests in the diocese.
In April 2002, Egan referred to the abuse allegations in a letter to parishioners at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.
"It is clear that today we have a much better understanding of this problem," Egan wrote. "If in hindsight we also discover that mistakes may have been made as regards to prompt removal of priests and assistance to victims, I am deeply sorry."
Egan's career A chronology of the education and career of Cardinal Edward M. Egan: April 2, 1932: Born in Oak Park, Ill., son of Thomas J. and Genevieve Costello Egan. 1954: Earns bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill. Sent to Rome to complete seminary studies at the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City. 1958: Receives a Licentiate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. After ordination in Rome, he returns that same year to the United States, where he serves briefly as a curate at Holy Name Cathedral parish and later as assistant chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago and secretary to Cardinal Albert Meyer. 1960: Named assistant vice rector and repetitor of moral theology and canon law at the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City. 1964: Earns a doctorate in canon law, summa cum laude, from the Pontifical Gregorian University and returns to Chicago, where he serves first as secretary to Cardinal John Cody and later as co-chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago. During this period, he also is secretary of the Archdiocesan Commissions on Ecumenism and Human Relations, and a member of several interfaith and ecumenical boards and commissions of social concerns throughout greater Chicago. 1971: Returns to Rome as a judge of the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota. While in Rome, Egan serves as a professor of canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University; a professor of civil and criminal procedure at the Studium Rotale, the law school of the Rota; a commissioner of the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship; and a consultor of the Congregation for the Clergy. 1982: He is one of six canonists who reviews the new Code of Canon Law with Pope John Paul II before its promulgation in 1983. May 22, 1985: Egan is consecrated a bishop in the Basilica of Sts. John and Paul in Rome by Cardinal Bernardin Gantin. June 1985: Becomes auxiliary bishop and vicar for education of the Archdiocese of New York. Nov. 8, 1988: Appointed third bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport by Pope John Paul II. Dec. 14, 1988: Installed as Bridgeport bishop. May 11, 2000: Formal announcement of Egan's selection as archbishop of New York, succeeding the late Cardinal John O'Connor. His motto is: "In the Holiness of Truth," from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "You must put on that new person created according to God, in justice and holiness of truth." The selection reflects the many years Egan served in the priesthood as a teacher and on his duty to teach the people of God, according to a statement from the Diocese of Bridgeport Office of Communications. June 19, 2000: Installed as the ninth archbishop of New York during ceremonies in St. Patrick's Cathedral. Feb. 21, 2001: Elevated to cardinal.
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