NEW YORK
Crux
By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter March 5, 2015
Cardinal Edward Egan, the archbishop emeritus of New York who was popular in Rome but had a rocky tenure as head of the nation’s second largest archdiocese, died Thursday afternoon of cardiac arrest. He was 82.
His successor, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, said Egan was stricken at his residence at the Chapel of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary and rushed to NYU Langone Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 2:20 p.m. Thursday.
“Thank God he had a peaceful death, passing away right after lunch today, with the prayers and sacraments of his loyal priest secretary, Father Douglas Crawford,” Dolan said in a blog post.
Egan was appointed archbishop of New York in May 2000, a post he held for nine years.
In some ways, Egan’s chances for success in New York were slim.
He took over from one of the American Church’s most colorful figures, Cardinal John O’Connor, whose gregarious nature stood in stark contrast to Egan’s, and whose disdain for management left Egan with an archdiocese with severe financial challenges.
His tenure as archbishop of New York was marked by public battles with priests, questions about how he handled allegations of clergy sexual abuse, and criticism of his general demeanor.
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