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  Cardinal Egan Retires; Archbishop Dolan of Milwaukee to Succeed Him

Catholic News Service
February 23, 2009

http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/0900827.htm

WASHINGTON (CNS) - Pope Benedict XVI named Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of Milwaukee as archbishop of New York and accepted the resignation of Cardinal Edward M. Egan, who has headed the archdiocese since 2000.

The appointment was announced Feb. 23 in Washington by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

In a statement directed at the auxiliary bishops, priests, men and women religious, seminarians and "committed Catholics of this wonderful church," Archbishop Dolan said he was "honored, humbled and happy to serve as your pastor."

"I pledge to you my love, my life, my heart, and I can tell you already that I love you," he added.

He will be installed by Archbishop Sambi as archbishop of New York April 15 at St. Patrick's Cathedral. Cardinal Egan will continue as apostolic administrator of the archdiocese until then.

Archbishop Dolan, a St. Louis native who turned 59 Feb. 6, has been head of the Milwaukee Archdiocese since 2002 and was an auxiliary bishop of the St. Louis Archdiocese for a year before that.

Cardinal Egan, who turns 77 April 2, was ordained a priest of the Chicago Archdiocese and served as an auxiliary bishop of the New York Archdiocese, 1985-88, and bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., 1988-2000.

Both Cardinal Egan and Archbishop Dolan have backgrounds that include extensive service in Rome and/or at the Vatican.

Cardinal Egan worked for 14 years as a judge in the Roman Rota, the Vatican court of appeals for canonical cases, especially those related to marriage. He also was on the faculty of the Pontifical North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome.

Archbishop Dolan studied for the priesthood in Rome and was rector of the North American College from 1994 to 2001. He also worked for five years on the staff of the apostolic nunciature in Washington.

The oldest of five children of Robert and Shirley Dolan, Timothy Michael Dolan studied at Holy Infant Grade School in Baldwin, Mo.; St. Louis Preparatory Seminary and Cardinal Glennon College in St. Louis; and the North American College.

Ordained a priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese June 19, 1976, Father Dolan served as a parish priest, earned a doctorate in church history at The Catholic University of America in Washington, worked at the apostolic nunciature, served on the faculty at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary in St. Louis and was rector at the North American College for seven years.

He returned to the Archdiocese of St. Louis as auxiliary bishop in June 2001 and was appointed archbishop of Milwaukee a year later.

In the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, he was a member of the Committee on Budget and Finance and the Subcommittee on the Church in Africa, as well as chairman of the board of directors of Catholic Relief Services. He also served as a consultant to the Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Edward Michael Egan, the son of Thomas J. and Genevieve Costello Egan, earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill.; a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University; and a doctorate summa cum laude in canon law, also from the Gregorian.

He was ordained a priest of the Chicago Archdiocese Dec. 15, 1957, at the North American College in Rome, in a ceremony that also included J. Francis Stafford, another future cardinal. After further studies in Rome, he returned to Chicago in 1958 to serve as parochial vicar of Holy Name Cathedral Parish, assistant chancellor and secretary to Cardinal Albert G. Meyer.

Back in Rome for doctoral studies from 1960 to 1964, he also served as assistant vice rector of the North American College. Again in Chicago from 1965 to 1972, he was secretary to Cardinal John P. Cody, archdiocesan vice chancellor and co-chancellor for ecumenism and social relations.

Named an auditor of the Tribunal of the Roman Rota Nov. 20, 1972, then-Father Egan was also a professor of civil and criminal procedure at the Studio Rotale and of canon law at the Gregorian; commissioner of the Vatican Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments; a consultor to the Vatican Congregation for Clergy; and, in 1982, one of six canonists who reviewed the new Code of Canon Law with Pope John Paul II before it was promulgated in 1983.

Appointed an auxiliary bishop in New York April 1, 1985, he was transferred to Bridgeport Nov. 5, 1988, and named archbishop of New York May 11, 2000.

As a member of the College of Cardinals since Feb. 21, 2001, he served on the Council of Cardinals for the Study of the Organizational and Economic Problems of the Holy See for five years and participated in the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict.

At the USCCB, Cardinal Egan is currently a member of the Committee on Migration and a consultant to the Committee on Pro-Life Activities, as well as a member of the board of bishops for the North American College.

Cardinal Egan will be the first head of the New York Archdiocese to retire from the post. The three bishops and eight archbishops who preceded him all died in office.

 
 

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