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Chicago’s very own to shepherd New York By Michael Wamble “If we don’t get an invitation this time around, I would understand. Regardless, he’ll certainly be in our hearts and prayers,” said St. Jerome parishioner Paul Elward of the priest he and his wife, Eileen, fondly remember as “Father Egan.” Oak Park native and one-time priest-in-residence at St. Jerome, Bishop Edward Egan has been named by New York archbishop by Pope John Paul II. Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, apostolic nuncio to the United States, announced the appointment in Washington May 11. On June 19, Bishop Egan will be installed as Archbishop of New York. While his most recent positions have been in the service of the people of Bridgeport, where he served as bishop since 1988, and New York, where he served as an auxiliary bishop 1985-88, his longtime friends and brother priests and bishops wasted little time celebrating the new archbishop’s Chicago roots. Elward, a retired Illinois Circuit Court judge, attended the 1988 installation in Bridgeport, but said he understood that “it might be a bit more crowded this time around.” It is widely expected that the archbishop-designate’s name will
be included in the next papal list for new cardinals. When that
happens, he will become the first priest of the Chicago seminary
system—Quigley Preparatory Seminary and Mundelein Seminary—to
be elevated to the level of cardinal. “This would have been one of the greatest events in [the late] Father Frawley’s [a former St. Giles pastor] life, that Ed Egan would likely become a cardinal. His mother and dad were outstanding people. And I’m sure St. Giles is as proud as can be, as are we all,” said Bishop Goedert. The Chicago auxiliary read a statement from Cardinal George that expressed support of the papal appointment and noted the link between the Chicago and New York Archdioceses. “The first bishop of Chicago, Bishop William Quarter, came to our city in 1844 after serving as pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in New York,” the cardinal stated. “Chicago is now glad to return the favor.” Born April 2, 1932, son of Thomas and Genevieve Egan, he attended St. Giles School in Oak Park, studied at Quigley Preparatory Seminary and University of St. Mary of the Lake’s Mundelein Seminary. In 1957, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago. His first assignment was Holy Name Cathedral Parish. Early into that assignment, then-Father Egan was appointed assistant chancellor and secretary to Cardinal Albert Meyer of Chicago until 1960, when he was named assistant vice rector of the North American College in Rome. In 1964, he returned to the Chicago Archdiocese to serve as assistant chancellor for four years. During that period, he was in residence at St. Jerome Church in Chicago’s Rogers Park area, where he shared with the parish his love of the Gospel and good sense of humor, said longtime parishioner Elward. “Father Egan always preached strong homilies on faith at Mass. But he didn’t just pop in on Sundays. Even then, he was very concerned about the parish school,” said Elward. Egan was later appointed co-chancellor for archdiocesan human relations and ecumenism from 1968-1972. He also was secretary to Cardinal John Cody. The archbishop-designate was also a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue (ARC) and a participant in many ecumenical and civic commissions that included the Chicago Conference on Religion and Race, where he served as vice-chairman, and as a board member of the Metropolitan Housing and Planning Council. In Chicago, then-Father Egan, pioneered archdiocesan efforts in
human relations and ecumenism, at a time when the offices were
joined together. His experience in ecumenism will be “great preparation” heading into New York, said Bishop Goedert. In 1972, then-Msgr. Egan traveled back to Rome where he would become one of only three noncardinal priests from the United States to be inside the conclave that elected then-Cardinal Karol Wojtyla to the papacy. In 1980, St. Jerome parishioner Elward wrote to the monsignor prior to visiting Rome with his wife, Eileen, and eldest son, Joseph. Msgr. Egan, he said, sent a prompt response and an invitation to dinner. “Over dinner, Msgr. Egan asked if we’d like to attend a ceremony in the diplomatic section where the Holy Father was going to ordain priests on Sunday,” said Elward. “My son asked if that would count toward Sunday obligation. And Msgr. Egan joked to him saying, ‘Joe, this will count for a month of Sunday obligations.’ “ Among the topics of the dinner conversation, said Elward, included “neighborhood gossip and other reports.” “I would say that he never lost his Chicago roots,” said Elward. At the heart of those “Chicago roots,” one can find the archbishop-designate’s good sense of humor, pushed by some of the rowdier kids in Oak Park. “When we were in grammar school, he was very bright, so much so that when we got into trouble as kids, the way we got off the hook with our parents and teacher at school would be by saying ‘Eddie Egan and two girls from Horace Mann [a local public school] did it,’ “ said Bishop Goedert. “As kids, we figured if we could put the heat on …Ed Egan we’d be OK because if Ed Egan was involved it had to be good. They would accept it and excuse us.” Over those 60 plus years that have passed, Bishop Goedert said he has kept in contact with Bishop Egan at NCCB meetings and other gatherings where “the Chicago crowd” would spend an evening together. “Certainly he has the competence and ability to rise to this task. I have no doubt he will do quite well in New York.”
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