Cardinal Edward Egan, Former Archbishop Of New York, Dead At 82

Jaweed Kaleem
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Archbishop Emeritus of New York Edward Egan makes his way into St. Patrick's Cathedral for the celebration of the first Mass by the new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Michael Dolan, in New York, Wednesday, April 15, 2009. AFP PHOTO/POOL/Seth Wenig (Photo credit should read Seth Wenig/AFP/Getty Images) (Photo: )
Archbishop Emeritus of New York Edward Egan makes his way into St. Patrick's Cathedral for the celebration of the first Mass by the new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Michael Dolan, in New York, Wednesday, April 15, 2009. AFP PHOTO/POOL/Seth Wenig (Photo credit should read Seth Wenig/AFP/Getty Images) (Photo: )

Cardinal Edward M. Egan, the former Archbishop of New York, died on Thursday afternoon in New York, officials at the Archdiocese of New York announced.

Egan, who was 82, died at 2:20 p.m. at NYU Langone Medical Center. The cause of death was cardiac arrest.

Egan, one of America's most prominent Catholic leaders, was New York's top Catholic from 2000 until his retirement in May of 2009. Prior to that, he served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport and as Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar for Education in the Archdiocese of New York. He was born April 2, 1932, in Oak Park, Illinois and ordained into the priesthood in the Archdiocese of Chicago on December 15, 1957.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the current Archbishop of New York, said in a statement that he was "saddened" but thanked God for the "peaceful death."

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Egan died "right after lunch today, with the prayers and sacraments of his loyal priest secretary, Father Douglas Crawford, in his residence at the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary," Dolan said.

"Join me, please, in thanking God for his life, especially his generous and faithful priesthood. Pray as well that the powerful mercy of Jesus, in which our Cardinal had such trust, has ushered him into heaven. My sympathy to his natural family, who will grieve for their uncle, and to you, his spiritual family here in the Archdiocese of New York."

Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

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NEW YORK (RNS) Cardinal Edward Egan, who served as archbishop of New York through the trauma of the 9/11 terror attacks and the clergy sex abuse scandal but was best known for administrative acumen that helped solidify the finances of the sprawling archdiocese, died on Thursday (March 5). He was 82.

Egan suffered a heart attack right after lunch at his apartment and was rushed to NYU Langone Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:20 p.m., said Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

“Join me, please, in thanking God for his life, especially his generous and faithful priesthood,” Dolan said in a brief statement.

Egan was appointed archbishop in May 2000, shortly after the death of the legendary Cardinal John O’Connor. When Egan retired in February 2009 — making way for Dolan — he was the first archbishop of the city to leave office while still living.

Egan was always viewed as something of an outsider to the outsize role of what St. John Paul II once called “archbishop of the capital of the world.”

He was born in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Ill., in 1932 and raised in well-to-do circumstances, unlike the working-class background of many other bishops. A childhood bout with polio left Egan with a slight limp for the rest of his life.

After entering the seminary, Egan was tapped to study in Rome, and he returned there after his ordination as a Chicago priest to work for several years as a canon lawyer. During those stints at the Vatican, and in later posts as an aide to senior churchmen, Egan developed many of the connections that would ensure his name was in the mix when new bishops were named.

In 1985, he was made an assistant bishop to O’Connor, and just three years later he was named bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., before returning to New York as archbishop and then cardinal. The capstone of his career was hosting Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI for his 2008 visit to New York, including Mass at Yankee Stadium.

Egan was always known for his refined tastes and his love of classical piano, and he had a sonorous baritone that made him come off as stuffy, especially compared with the gregarious, down-to-earth cardinals who preceded him and followed him.

Egan also faced intense criticism for his track record in fighting claims of clergy sexual abuse.

But if Egan was never beloved by priests or parishioners the way other archbishops were, he also had a tough job to do.

When he took over, the 3 million-member Archdiocese of New York reportedly had a $20 million annual operating deficit and an outdated, outmoded infrastructure that needed a serious overhaul.

Egan tackled that unpopular task and, through layoffs and restructuring and fundraising, quickly improved the situation.

Egan ministered to the injured and buried the dead after the 9/11 attacks on Lower Manhattan, but he also had to travel to Rome shortly afterward to help preside over a major Vatican conference.

He pleaded with John Paul to be allowed to return, and finally succeeded in getting back to the city. But the episode, combined with his struggle to connect with his flock as a pastor, dogged his reputation.

That time, when his loyalty to the city was questioned, was “the worst thing that ever happened to me in my life,” Egan told The Associated Press in a 2011 interview.

“I feel that whatever grace I gained by going through that, I said to the Lord, use for anybody who was hurt in this tragedy,” Egan said.

Saint Peter

The crucifixion of Peter in Rome was a foundational event for the theology of the papacy. In this Jesuit depiction, that point is made by the presence of the dome of St. Peter's on the skyline of first-century Rome. (Photo: Julius Goltzius after Maerten de Voz, The Crucifixion of St. Peter, c. 1590. British Museum, © The Trustees of the British Museum.)

Pope Sixtus V

The pink granite Egyptian obelisk erected in A.D. 37 in the Vatican circus by Caligula was moved to its present position in the centre of St. Peter's Square by Pope Sixtus V in 1586. It was traditionally believed to be the last object seen by the dying St. Peter. (Photo: Giovanni Battista Piranesi, View of the Basilica and the Piazza of St. Peter's, Vatican, 1760, © The Trustees of the British Museum.)

Pope Leo I

Pope Leo I meeting Attila the Hun. (Photo: Alessandro Algardi, The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila, 17th century. St Peter's basilica, Vatican, Scala, Florence.)
Pope Leo I meeting Attila the Hun. (Photo: Alessandro Algardi, The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila, 17th century. St Peter's basilica, Vatican, Scala, Florence.)

Saint Gregory

St. Gregory at his writing desk, ivory panel, 10th century. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.
St. Gregory at his writing desk, ivory panel, 10th century. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Synod of Whitby

British divisions over the dating of Easter and other issues were resolved in favor of the Roman practices at the synod of Whitby in A.D. 664, though all trace of the buildings in which the synod was held have long since disappeared. (Photo: Whitby Abbey, photographed and printed by Valentine & Sons Ltd., Dundee, c. 1900, Courtesy of East Cleveland Image Archives.)

Pope Innocent III

The dream of Innocent III, in which a ragged poor man supported the collapsing Church of Rome, was claimed by both Dominican and Franciscan friars as a prophecy of the role of the mendicant orders in the renewal of the Church in the 13th century. (Photo: Illustration to Erasmus Alber, L'Alcoran des Cordeliers, 1734, © The Trustees of the British Museum.)

Pope Paul III

Antonio Dalco after Titian, Pope Paul III, 19th century.
Antonio Dalco after Titian, Pope Paul III, 19th century.

St. Ignatius of Loyola

Paul III approved the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, founded by the Catalan soldier Ignatius Loyola. Within a generation, the Jesuits would become the cutting edge of a resurgent Catholicism. (Photo: Hieronymus Wierix, St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1619. British Museum, © The Trustees of the British Museum.)
Paul III approved the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus, founded by the Catalan soldier Ignatius Loyola. Within a generation, the Jesuits would become the cutting edge of a resurgent Catholicism. (Photo: Hieronymus Wierix, St. Ignatius of Loyola, 1619. British Museum, © The Trustees of the British Museum.)

First Vatican Council

The convening of the First Vatican Council, which met in the shadow of the annexation of Rome by Victor Emmanuel, was the last great manifestation of Papal Rome. (Photo: Pio Nono's blessing at St Peter's during the First Vatican Ecumenical Council, December 1869.)
The convening of the First Vatican Council, which met in the shadow of the annexation of Rome by Victor Emmanuel, was the last great manifestation of Papal Rome. (Photo: Pio Nono's blessing at St Peter's during the First Vatican Ecumenical Council, December 1869.)

Blessed John Henry Newman

The future Cardinal, Blessed John Henry Newman, deplored the dogmatic extremism of Pio Nono's pontificate: "It is not good for a pope to live 20 years," he wrote, "he becomes a god, and he has no-one to contradict him." (Photo: John Henry Newman, 19th century, © Michael Nicholson/ Corbis.)
The future Cardinal, Blessed John Henry Newman, deplored the dogmatic extremism of Pio Nono's pontificate: "It is not good for a pope to live 20 years," he wrote, "he becomes a god, and he has no-one to contradict him." (Photo: John Henry Newman, 19th century, © Michael Nicholson/ Corbis.)

Pope Pius XII

Postcard depicting Pius XII and St. Peter's square, 1946.
Postcard depicting Pius XII and St. Peter's square, 1946.

Pope John XXIII

The pontificate of John XXIII transformed ecumenical relationships with the Churches of the Reformation. The visit of Queen Elizabeth II to the Vatican in 1961 followed hard on the heels of a visit the same year by the Archbishop of Canterbury, inaugurating the closer relations with the Church of England. (Photo: John XXIII with Queen Elizabeth II, January 1961.)

Pope John's Council

Pope John's Council, conducted in the full glare of global media attention, was arguably the most significant event in the Christian history since the Reformation of the 16th century. (Photo: Life magazine, December 1965.)
Pope John's Council, conducted in the full glare of global media attention, was arguably the most significant event in the Christian history since the Reformation of the 16th century. (Photo: Life magazine, December 1965.)

Pope John Paul II

John Paul II was passionately committed to cooperation between the world's religions. His willingness to pray with non-Christians alarmed some of his theological advisers. (Photo: John Paul II with the Dalai Lama, Spiritual Chief of Tibetan Buddhists, New Delhi, February 1986.)
John Paul II was passionately committed to cooperation between the world's religions. His willingness to pray with non-Christians alarmed some of his theological advisers. (Photo: John Paul II with the Dalai Lama, Spiritual Chief of Tibetan Buddhists, New Delhi, February 1986.)

Pope John Paul II

John Paul II returned to Poland the year after his election. Despite government attempts to marginalize the visit, a third of the population turned out to see Wojtyla, and the Pope's presence provided the impetus for the foundation of the Solidarity union, and the movement for Polish liberation. (Photo: John Paul II addresses citizens of Czestochowa outside the Holy Family Cathedral, June 1979.)

Pope Benedict XVI

Effective diplomacy and recognition of the Church's influence over more than a billion Catholics worldwide have gained the popes a unique -- and sometimes controversial -- voice in international affairs. (Photo: Benedict XVI addresses the general assembly at the United Nations in New York, April 2008.)
Effective diplomacy and recognition of the Church's influence over more than a billion Catholics worldwide have gained the popes a unique -- and sometimes controversial -- voice in international affairs. (Photo: Benedict XVI addresses the general assembly at the United Nations in New York, April 2008.)

Pope Pius IX

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