Cardinal Egan, Former Catholic Archbishop of New York, Dead at 82

By Melanie Grayce West
Wall Street Journal
March 5, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/articles/edward-cardinal-egan-former-catholic-archbishop-of-new-york-dead-at-82-1425587443

Cardinal Edward Egan, who shepherded the Archdiocese of New York through financial troubles and helped heal the nation’s largest city after the 2001 World Trade Center terrorist attacks, died Thursday of cardiac arrest at his Manhattan residence. He was 82 years old.

Cardinal Egan was born in Oak Park, Ill., ordained in 1957 and consecrated as a bishop in 1985. From 1985 to 1988, he served as auxiliary bishop and vicar for education of the Archdiocese of New York. He then served as bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., for 12 years before serving as archbishop of New York from 2000 to 2009.

He was a canon lawyer with an international reputation and spent many years in Rome.

As head of the most prominent archdiocese in the country, Cardinal Egan was chosen by Pope John Paul II, in part, for his abilities as a gifted administrator and a prodigious fundraiser. Cardinal Egan helped to turn around multimillion-dollar deficits within a sprawling archdiocese by closing lagging parishes and laying off staff.

Cardinal Egan didn’t possess the bubbly, larger-than-life personality of his predecessor, Cardinal John O’Connor, or his successor, Cardinal Timothy Dolan . He also didn’t have a warm relationship with the media, friends said, and most characterized him as reserved and shy.

But those who knew him well spoke Thursday about his intense devotion to Catholic life and quiet kindness.

He made “very painful decisions about some of our Catholic hospitals, and our parishes, and schools,” Cardinal Dolan said. “But he did it patiently, judiciously and now we look back and you can mostly say, ‘thanks be to God.’ The diocese is much stronger—it’s on sturdier foundations.”

Cardinal Dolan said his predecessor “loved this city” and was a source of comfort for many families of the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“Day after day…he would bury the victims of 9/11. And he unfailingly spoke about hope and comfort and faith,” Cardinal Dolan said. “And that is what he’d want us to know, and that’s what he’d want our people to remember.”

In his retirement, Cardinal Egan continued to serve the archdiocese, often attending events on behalf of Cardinal Dolan, celebrating parish anniversaries around the city and presiding over confirmation ceremonies.

During his priesthood, Cardinal Egan spent little time as a pastor in a parish and so, in recent years, “he relished that opportunity to get to the parish,” said Joseph Zwilling, the archdiocese’s spokesman.

Cardinal Dolan described Cardinal Egan’s final moments at his Manhattan residence at the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

“He was not feeling any discomfort,” Cardinal Dolan said. “He had a lunch with his loyal secretary, father Doug Crawford, and at the end of the lunch he simply let out a little groan and he slumped over and died.”