Edward Cardinal Egan said yesterday that missing his final Easter Sunday presiding over St. Patrick’s Cathedral was a cross he couldn’t bear.
So two days after leaving his Manhattan hospital bed, the 77-year-old leader of the Archdiocese of New York, who retires next week, was back at his pulpit, preaching the gospel and giving the bread of life.
Egan, who spent three days at St. Vincent’s Hospital after suffering severe stomach pain and then being diagnosed with a heart condition that will require a pacemaker, gave a 20-minute homily at a service commemorating the Last Supper, the biblical final meal Jesus shared with his disciples before he was betrayed.
Egan used the moment to encourage parishioners to stay strong through economic hardship.
“These times in which we live are tough times and may get tougher,” Egan said. “You can get through them alone or hand in hand with Jesus Christ.”
Earlier, at a news conference, the cardinal explained his decision to put off doctors’ directives to install a pacemaker.
“I’m feeling pretty good but not as good as I should be,” he said. “To miss Holy Thursday and Good Friday would be a heavy cross to bear. I decided not to bear that one if I didn’t have to.”
Egan said he would also hold off the procedure until after services next week to install his successor, Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
“This has been for me a wonderful nine years,” Egan said. “I’m very proud of New York’s diocese.”
Egan enters retirement Wednesday.
The cardinal called his heart condition something he’s lived with for years.
“For many, many years, I have known that I had something wrong with me,” Egan said.
“For 11 years, the head of cardiology at St. Vincent’s told me there was no need to do anything about it. Now they think it might be time to do something.”
The cardinal said his setback last weekend was a gastro virus.
“It kind of switched everything else off,” he said.