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Egan is criticized for several reasons:

(1) He is definitely more of an administrator and financial manager than a charismatic pastor. This is good and bad.

(2) He is criticized by not doing enough about the molestation scandal, which is demonstrably true. His Brooklyn suffragan was one of the most egregious coddlers of these types and he failed to put him in check.

(3) He has displayed a complete indifference to the Latin Mass community - not overt hostility, but complete indifference.

(4) Priests criticize him because they feel that he only contacts them over financial matters, insisting that they get their ducks in a row. A lot of this is personal resentment on the part of priests as well - the ones who have not done a good job of running their parishes, and there are many, are unhappy.

So there are reasons to criticize Egan and reasons to acknowledge that he has served well.

4) Priests criticize him because they feel that he only contacts them over financial matters, insisting that they get their ducks in a row. A lot of this is personal resentment on the part of priests as well - the ones who have not done a good job of running their parishes, and there are many, are unhappy.

When I lived in Orange County, NY, Father discussed this perception of the Cardinal with the congregation. It was about two years ago. He, Father, had just met the Cardinal at breakfast to discuss the Archbishop's Appeal. He said that the Cardinal was caring and took interest in his priests, however he was not a warm fuzzy person.

The Cardinal had remembered Father's name and parish from meeting him at a golf game over two years before the breakfast. Father was impressed with him, and found very little that the "angry priests" said was true. It must also be stressed that the parish was (and still is) a tithing parish (sermons on tithing, people coming in and talking about it, notes in the bulletin), we no longer had any debt, and we always were over our goals on the Archbishops Appeal. This kind of financial management may be one of the reasons why the Cardinal was warm to Father.

Agreeng with you generally but:

1. Brooklyn is a separate diocese covering Brooklyn and Queens. Its recent former bishops are Francis Mugavero and Thomas Daily (who arrived from Law's Boston). The present bishop is a big improvent. I forget the name but I believe that he is a youngish Italian bishop previously serving Camden, NJ.

2. As bishop of Bridgeport, Egan allowed Tridentine Masses at Bridgeport and at Stamford.

Egan is no star and he has a terrible attitude about criticism and about press coverage of the scandals and what not. He is not a very wise bishop or a very good pastor. Fortunately he will soon be 75.