Analysis Eyes on Egan in New York
By ARTHUR JONES
NCR Staff New York
New Yorkers for the next few months have a new sport: archbishop
watching. In two days of ceremonies at St. Patricks Cathedral June 18 and
19, Archbishop Edward Michael Egan, formerly bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., took
charge of the New York archdiocese.
He has an episcopal motto from St. Paul (In the Holiness of
Truth) and a stentorian professorial voice obviously modulated long ago
to penetrate seminarians reveries.
He is a penetrating speaker, but not a rousing one.
In closing remarks, Egan included in his thanks-for-coming the
local political glitterati, who had sat through two days of bottom-numbing,
wooden pew-sitting obeisance. His thanks, The New York Times noted, did
not include New York senatorial candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton by name but
did mention Catholic Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, whose blatant unfaithfulness to
his wife apparently gets the archbishops blind eye.
Two parts amiability to three parts no-nonsense, Egan arrived in
New York with a reputation for being cool toward gays, unions, nuns expecting
open dialogue and with no particular fondness for reformist aspirations of the
Second Vatican Council (1962-65).
Egan now plays to two audiences: the Big Apple socio-politico-arts
crowd, and the Catholic crowd. Egans a cosmopolitan fellow with a nice
touch for getting into the wallets of the moneyed power (a task his predecessor
Cardinal John OConnor admitted he hated). But Egan also did a crash
course in Bridgeport to bring his Spanish up to snuff -- and thats the
native language of 36 percent of the archdioceses Catholics.
In a city that in two centuries has had only one
non-Irish-American bishop, Bishop John Dubois, 1828-1842), Egan could well be
the last of New Yorks Irish-American ordinaries. Rome in time will have
to acknowledge the rise of the new ethnics.
How will Egan do -- short-term?
On the political front, NCRs Manhattan cognoscenti
friends compiled a working list for gauging how steely is the new hand inside
New Yorks episcopal velvet glove:
1. Watch for the two Als, Al Smith and Al Sharpton. Will Egan
invite President Clinton to the bishops New York Catholic bash -- the
October Al Smith dinner? To invite the president had been the precedent.
OConnor never did. And the next time a white cop shoots a black kid, who
will Egan embrace, who will he keep at a distance? How will he handle the
radical black community, personified by motor mouth egocentric Al Sharpton?
2. Watch for how he deals with gays. Egans on a frayed
tightrope there. He wants to cut a swath in the art world and is well equipped
to do so. Hes a classical pianist who gives money-raising benefit
concerts, and his pals include Met opera star Renée Fleming who sang
Mozarts Exultate Jubilate at the Monday ceremony. New
Yorks tony art crowd is sympathetic toward gays. And if Egan turns
confrontational, the current open smiles of the Lincoln Center supporters and
their ilk will take on a tougher cast.
3. Will Egan be politically partial? (U.S. cardinals -- and Egan
is all but -- display little political finesse and generally end up as
Republican photo ops.)
The two days of media commentary in self-absorbed New York was
interesting as TV personalities noted that, while New York is only the
third-largest archdiocese (after Los Angeles and Chicago), its
still the most important. Media-wise, yes. But New York cardinals
dont cast much of a shadow beyond their metropolitan boundaries, nor will
Egan. New Yorkers dont understand how skewed is their view.
Though theres only one cardinal west of Chicago (Los
Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony), theres a markedly varied church
beyond the boundaries of the Northeasts bricks-and-mortar, red-hatted
sees.
With the media fixating on him, a New York archbishop has plenty
of opportunities to shoot himself in the foot. (It happened already, if
obliquely, when his gabby brother-in-law scooped the Vatican on Egans
transfer to New York.) Therell be more, and the media will yowl.
Its a sport.
For Catholics, depending on their preferences, Egans
standing comes down to assessing him as a source of gaudium et spes (joy
and hope). A story may be revealing.
Egan was once a judge on the Rota, a Vatican tribunal that judges
marriage cases and one of the three Vatican courts established to adjudicate
canon law. Another Vatican tribunal is the Signatura, which hears appeals in
doctrinal and disciplinary disputes.
The question arose, early in Egans Vatican service some
three decades ago, as to whether Gaudium et Spes, Vatican
IIs Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, should become part of
the legally enforced teaching of the church. The Rota voted yes, the Signatura
voted no. Egan went against his Rota colleagues and voted with the
Signatura.
The new archbishop is to be warmly welcomed. One hopes he will be
evenhanded, yet more than that, evenhanded with a light touch.
Arthur Jones e-mail address is ajones@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, June 30,
2000
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