Cardinal Edward M. Egan

His Eminence, Cardinal Edward M. Egan is the Archbishop Emeritus of New York.

Cardinal Egan was born on April 2, 1932, in Oak Park, Illinois, the son of Thomas J. and Genevieve Costello Egan.

Having earned a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Saint Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois, he was sent to Rome to complete his seminary studies at the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City, where he was ordained on December 15, 1957.  In 1958, he received a Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University.  

After ordination, he returned to the United States in 1958, where he served briefly as a curate at Holy Name Cathedral Parish and later as assistant chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago and secretary to His Eminence, Albert Cardinal Meyer.

In 1960 Cardinal Egan was named assistant vice-rector and repetitor of Moral Theology and Canon Law at the Pontifical North American College in Vatican City. In 1964, he earned a doctorate in Canon Law “Summa Cum Laude” from the Pontifical Gregorian University and thereafter returned to Chicago, where he served first as secretary to His Eminence, John Cardinal Cody, and later as the co-chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago. During this period, he was also the secretary of the Archdiocesan Commissions on Ecumenism and Human Relations and was a member of several interfaith and ecumenical boards and commissions of social concerns throughout the greater Chicago area.

In 1971 Cardinal Egan returned to Rome as a judge of the Tribunal of the Sacred Roman Rota, a position he held until his episcopal consecration in May of 1985.

Cardinal Egan was consecrated a bishop on May 22, 1985, in the Basilica of Saints John and Paul in Rome by His Eminence, Bernardin Cardinal Gantin, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops, with His Eminence, John Cardinal O’Connor; Archbishop of New York, and His Excellency, the Most Reverend John R. Keating, Bishop of Arlington, as Co-Consecrators.

From July of 1985 until December of 1988, Cardinal Egan served as Auxiliary Bishop and Vicar for Education of the Archdiocese of New York.

On November 8, 1988, Pope John Paul II appointed Cardinal Egan to be the Third Bishop of the Diocese of Bridgeport in Connecticut. He was installed on December 14, 1998, in the Cathedral of Saint Augustine by His Excellency, The Most Revered Daniel A. Cronin, Archbishop of Hartford, in the presence of His Excellency, The Most Reverend Pio Laghi, the Apostolic Nuncio the United States.

Cardinal Egan is a member of the Board of Trustees of Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; the Ave Maria School of Law in Naples, Florida; and the Thomas More College in New Hampshire; and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Catholic Charities of New York; Archdiocesan Healthcare of New York (ArchCare); and Saint Joseph Seminary and Saint John Neumann Seminary Residence and Hall, both in Dunwoodie, New York. He has received honorary degrees from Saint John’s University in New York, Thomas More College in New Hampshire, Western Connecticut State University, Fordham University in New York, Manhattan College in New York, the University of Lublin, the Cardinal Wyszynski University in Warsaw, Iona College in New York, the Ave Maria School of Law in Florida, and the New York Medical College.

On May 11, 2000 Pope John Paul II appointed Bishop Egan Archbishop of New York. He was installed in the Cathedral of Saint Patrick on June 19, 2000 by His Excellency, The Most Reverend Gabriel Montalvo, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States. On June 29th he received the “pallium” of an archbishop in Rome.

On January 21, 2001, Pope John Paul II announced that Cardinal Egan was to be appointed to the College of Cardinals. He was elevated in the Consistory of February 21, 2001 and was assigned as his titular church the Basilica of Saints John and Paul on the Caelian Hill in Rome.

During Cardinal Egan’s tenure as Archbishop of New York, the number of registered parishioners increased by 204,000; the budget of Catholic Charities grew by 125 per cent; enrollment in Catholic elementary and secondary schools rose by 15,400; the Archdiocesan newspaper Catholic New York became the largest in the nation; and the Archdiocese and its various agencies were made debt-free.

In May of 2009, at the age of seventy-seven, Cardinal Egan was retired as Archbishop of New York. He resides in the Borough of Manhattan in the City of New York and continues to assist in the works of the Archdiocese, while serving on a number of offices of the Vatican.

(Note: bio excerpted from the Archdiocese of New York website. To read more about H.E. Cardinal Edward M. Egan, please visit the Archdiocese of New York website.)