Cardinal Edward M. Egan began his final Easter Mass as archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York with a joke of sorts.He recounted the story of a stranger who had just approached him outside St. Patrick’s Cathedral and remarked about the glorious weather.
The cardinal told the stranger that he awoke at 5 a.m. and “turned the dial,” setting it to blue skies with a light breeze, he said.
The tale set the tone for the service that was to come: caring and lighthearted, though also sprinkled with references to the oppressed abroad and the fortunate in this country, who Cardinal Egan said had much to be thankful for even in these difficult times.
It was, perhaps, a perfect ending to his nine years as leader of the New York Archdiocese, the church’s flagship diocese in the United States. It has been a time punctuated by tragedy, discord and profound changes to the fabric and structure of the church.
In his final Easter Mass, he made sure to acknowledge the large number of Hispanics who have joined the archdiocese, which serves parts of New York and the northern suburbs. The first and last hymns were sung in English and Spanish by a multiethnic congregation that included Filipinos, Grenadines, Indians and many other immigrants, who make up a vast majority of Roman Catholics in the city.
In his sermon, Cardinal Egan recalled a trip to the Chinese countryside 35 years ago, when he and a group of Italians with whom he was traveling found themselves talking about democracy and God to some local residents who had invited them for tea at the home of the richest woman in town.
The residents said they wanted to hear more, and Cardinal Egan said that he offered to send them books, but they begged him not to do it, fearful of what might happen if the books were discovered. Then the cardinal told the audience packing the cathedral’s pews, “We are blessed to live in a land where we can tell those stories freely.”
Cardinal Egan looked healthy, especially for a 77-year-old man with an ailing heart. His cheeks were rosy and his stride noticeably firm, though occasionally he held onto the lectern, as if to support himself.
“I feel very fine,” Cardinal Egan said at a news conference after Mass, adding that he would skip a customary lunch that followed Easter Mass, take a nap and then go for a walk. “The air is lovely outside,” he said.
Cardinal Egan was hospitalized for three days last week and treated for a gastrointestinal virus, which prevented him from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass, as he had since his first year at the helm of the archdiocese in 2000. Doctors had also scheduled a pacemaker operation for him, which would have kept the cardinal from officiating Holy Week services, but in the end they agreed that the surgery could wait.
“I’ve got plenty of time to do that,” the cardinal said. “The heart is still kicking.”
On Good Friday, he presided over a three-hour Mass; the Easter service on Sunday lasted less than two hours. On Tuesday and Wednesday, he will be back at St. Patrick’s to install his successor, Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, who most recently led the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. The installation will also be the beginning of his retirement, but Cardinal Egan said that he does not plan to leave New York.
“Now I’m going to find out if those eateries are any good,” he told reporters. “Now I’m going to find out if the opera is worth what you people pretend it is.”
He also shared other plans. On Sunday, he will be at St. Joseph’s Church in Yorkville to dedicate a mosaic honoring the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the church last April. He also said he planned to tend to a mission to serve the city’s French-speaking community, a group that includes West Africans, who have flocked to New York in recent years, settling primarily in the Bronx.
Early in his tenure, Cardinal Egan spent days at ground zero, comforting the injured and blessing the dead after the attacks of Sept. 11. Later, he endured much criticism for his decision to close parishes and Catholic schools that he said had been struggling financially.
He is retiring as the city faces yet another crisis, but he is hopeful.
“I think we’re going to get out of it,” he said. “I think we’re going to be smarter and stronger and holier. I think later we’re going to find out that we don’t need to have everything. Maybe we can share something with those who don’t. Maybe we can look around after we’ve had some pain and find others that are having pain, too.”+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Disclaimer
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to either myself or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that I agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Sotto Voce
(Source: NYT)