Friday, July 17, 2009

Emeritus 101

Not usually known for a keenness on interviews, Cardinal Edward Egan made his first post-retirement TV appearance earlier today on a Gotham morning show.

Slated to plug his beloved Catholic schools on Good Day New York, along the way Egan said he "came to brag" over President Obama's selection of two products of Catholic education for high-profile posts -- city native Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, and Alabama-born Dr Regina Benjamin as Surgeon General.

Along with another church-school alum -- new Xerox CEO Ursula Burns -- the White House appointees made it "a great week for Catholic education," the cardinal said.

A graduate of Manhattan's Cathedral Girls High, Burns became the first African-American woman to lead a Fortune 500 company earlier this month.

In full, eccolo:



Compared to last time, it would seem the burden has lifted.

He might've stepped down in April as head of the 2.5 million-member church in the "capital of the world," but the first New York archbishop ever to "get out alive" hasn't left the fray: a June farewell dinner for the 77 year-old cardinal at the city's Temple of Dendur raised money for the archdiocesan schools and made the society pages, and a "loosened up" Egan was likewise noted during his successor's reception of the pallium in Rome at month's end.

Speaking of said successor, next week marks Archbishop Tim Dolan's 100th Day at 452 Madison... and in some quarters, presidential-style coverage is planned.

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