By MARY ANN POUST

On the day his appointment as New York's new archbishop was announced May 11, Archbishop-elect Edward M. Egan knelt to pray in the Lady Chapel of St. Patrick's Cathedral, fielded media questions at a hectic Manhattan news conference and greeted old friends who had worked with him 12 years before in the New York Catholic Center.

On Saturday, May 20, he will ordain five new priests for the archdiocese even though he won't be installed as archbishop for four more weeks--signaling that vocations will be a top priority for him, and that he's eager to plunge into the job.

"I know no place in the world that's quicker to accept someone who wants to be a New Yorker, and I guess I want to be New Yorker--and I guess officially I am one," he declared last Thursday, a broad smile on his face, as he addressed New Yorkers through the media for the first time as successor to Cardinal O'Connor.

Archbishop-elect Egan, 68, the Bishop of Bridgeport, Conn., and a noted canon law specialist, will be installed as the ninth Archbishop of New York in a ceremony June 19 at 2 p.m. in St. Patrick's Cathedral.

His appointment by Pope John Paul II was announced May 11 in Washington, D.C., by Archbishop Gabriel V. Montalvo, papal nuncio to the United States, who will install him as archbishop.

It was a widely expected announcement that came after more than a week of unusually detailed leaks and only three days after the funeral of the cardinal, who died May 3 at age 80.

Archbishop-elect Egan is known in Bridgeport for his success in attracting vocations to the priesthood, for stabilizing the diocese's Catholic schools through a regionalization plan, for doubling the size of Catholic Charities, and for his fund-raising prowess.

He is described as firmly orthodox in his approach to doctrine, a good homilist and one who is well-liked, even loved, by his priests.

A learned man of culture who plays classical piano and speaks five languages, he is said nevertheless to have a common touch that endeared him to his increasingly diverse diocese.

"He's intelligent, but he's not cerebral," said Father Angelo S. Arrando, pastor of St. Gregory's parish in Danbury and a former Brooklynite. "As one who grew up in New York, I think he'll be great there."

Father Michael Jude Fay, pastor of St. John's in Darien, said, "I'm thrilled for him, I'm not happy for me. He taught me a lot...I loved him."

The two priests, and every other priest interviewed at random in the Bridgeport Diocese, also made this point: "He knows us by name."

Said Father Fay, "That's a beautiful gift to bring to a priest."

A native of the Chicago area, Archbishop-elect Egan spent more than 20 years of his priesthood in Rome and was serving there as the only U.S. member of the Sacred Roman Rota, the Vatican's highest court, when he was ordained an auxiliary bishop for New York in 1985.

In the archdiocese, Cardinal O'Connor named him vicar for education. He held the post for three years and seven months before his 1988 appointment to the Bridgeport Diocese.

In a statement on his New York appointment, Archbishop-elect Egan called the archdiocese "an extraordinary community of faith" and said his invitation to serve as its shepherd "is quite humbling."

"The responsibility has, however, been accepted with great joy," he said.

In informal comments at the news conference, he told a questioner that when he first heard the news of his appointment several weeks ago, "My first reaction was, Edward, get down on your knees and beg the Lord to give you a hand, and don't get up too quickly."

As archbishop, he said the first thing he wants to do is "get to know the priests."

"I want to meet with them and have a lot of time to pray with them and listen to them," he said at the news conference.

He also indicated, in remarks later to archdiocesan employees, that he would spend much time in parishes and that parish life would be a major focus of his ministry in New York.

"I want to work with you in serving our parishes. I want to start out with experiences from the parishes...I try to be in as many parishes as I can," he said to the employees gathered to greet him in St. John the Evangelist Church in Manhattan after the news conference.

He pledged, too, to continue the strong pro-life commitment established by Cardinal O'Connor and his predecessor, Cardinal Terence Cooke, "with all of the enthusiasm...and delight I can possibly add."

Later, in a brief appearance at St. Patrick's Cathedral, where he prayed before the Blessed Sacrament exposed in the Lady Chapel and shook hands with surprised parishioners, he said through an archdiocese spokesman that he will spend a lot of time in the Lady Chapel--a small chapel behind the sanctuary with a statue of Our Lady of New York.

"The Lady Chapel is going to be a focal point of his time here. He has a tremendous devotion to Our Lady and intends to use the chapel a great deal," said Joseph Zwilling, the spokesman.

In his news conference, Archbishop-elect Egan did not propose an administrative agenda for the archdiocese, saying he will first study its needs. But he did not rule out closing or consolidating schools if necessary, saying, "We will do what needs to be done."

He appealed to reporters, however, not to assume he'll go charging in to Catholic schools, padlocks in hand, and suggested he may even see a need to add schools.

"Please be a little optimistic," he said. "Let's ask how many we have opened in the next few years."

About Hispanics in the archdiocese, he said, "They have in me a dedicated servant who loves their culture, loves their language, loves their music."

He also offered prayers and sympathy for New York's Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani as he deals with prostate cancer and the very-public breakup of his 16-year marriage. "I hope that here in New York the Catholic Church would have the greatest sympathy for this good human being who is struggling through two very, very serious situations," he said.

The archbishop-elect also acknowledged the formidable task of stepping into the shoes of Cardinal O'Connor, who was one of his co-consecrators as a bishop in 1985.

"It's a great challenge to try to follow John Cardinal O'Connor. Cardinal O'Connor is revered here in New York...anyone who had their television on during the time he was sick, the time of his funeral, certainly could see he was loved," he said.

"I believe I will seek the prayers of Cardinal O'Connor and ask him to give me as much guidance as he can."

A solid-looking 6-footer with a booming voice, Edward Michael Egan was born April 2, 1932, in Oak Park, Ill., a comfortable Chicago suburb. He was the youngest of four children of Thomas and Genevieve Costello Egan, a sales manager and homemaker, and is the only surviving member of his immediate family.

At age 10, he was stricken with polio and faced partial paralysis. He was treated at Cook County Contagious Disease Hospital, and later at home.

After his recovery he was educated at St. Giles Catholic School in Oak Park, Quigley Preparatory Seminary in Chicago and St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill., where he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy.

His intellect and potential to rise in the Church were noted at that time, and he was sent to complete his seminary studies at the Gregorian University in Rome, in residence at the North American College.

The Rome experience was an important part of his formation, and he once told CNY that the North American College rector at the time, Archbishop Martin O'Connor, was one of the most important influences in his life outside of his family.

Archbishop Martin O'Connor had once served at West Point and "ran the North American College on a military basis," he said. But he also had a softer side and took an interest in young Edward Egan's considerable piano and organ-playing talents to the point where he paid for the seminarian's music lessons, encouraging him both to practice and perform.

Studying in Rome, Archbishop-elect Egan was "an ordinary young man--except that he was so very intelligent. We all recognized that right away," said Msgr. Desmond J. Vella, judicial vicar of the Metropolitan Tribunal in the archdiocese, who was at the North American College at the same time.

"He also had a good sense of humor. Always witty, never condescending or looking down on people," he said. "Rather, we looked up to him because we saw him as a man of great character, even as a young man."

As judicial vicar, Msgr. Vella oversees the process of marriage annulments in the archdiocese--an area in which Archbishop-elect Egan has much experience from his 13 years on the Roman Rota, which passes final judgment on annulments granted in tribunals around the world.

Although the archbishop-elect did not have any tribunal responsibilities during his nearly four years in the archdiocese, he "was always supportive of my work and service for Cardinal O'Connor," Msgr. Vella said.

Now that he's back, he said, Archbishop-elect Egan needs to "build up vocations, consolidate parishes and make himself known as the good priest that he is."

He was ordained in Rome by Archbishop Martin O'Connor on Dec. 15, 1957, and in 1958 he received a licentiate in sacred theology from the Gregorian University. Back in Chicago that year, he served briefly at Holy Name Cathedral before being tapped for assistant chancellor of the Chicago Archdiocese and secretary to Cardinal Albert Meyer.

He returned to Rome in 1960 to study canon law--and practice his fluent Italian, French and Latin--earning his doctorate summa cum laude from the Gregorian University in 1964. (He studied Spanish after arriving in Bridgeport.)

Again back in Chicago, he was appointed secretary to Cardinal John Cody, whose tenure leading the archdiocese was to be quite stormy.

In a 1985 interview with CNY, Arch- bishop-elect Egan attributed much of the late Cardinal Cody's difficulties, especially his dealings with a badly divided clergy, to poor communication. "It's not that there wasn't communication; it wasn't the right kind of communication," he said.

"If you want to get together to solve a problem in Chicago, you don't do it with a breakfast meeting at the Conrad Hilton; you sit down at night around the kitchen table in the rectory...Cardinal Cody didn't know how to communicate with his priests, or they with him. And if they had known how to do it, they would've been his most ardent supporters," he said.

During that period in Chicago, he also served as co-chancellor of the archdiocese, was secretary of the Archdiocesan Commissions of Ecumenism and Human Relations and a member of several interfaith and ecumenical boards.

By 1971, he was back in Rome as a judge of the Roman Rota, a position he held until he was consecrated a bishop in May of 1985. In that period he was also a professor of canon law at Gregorian and civil and criminal procedure at the Studium Rotale, the law school of the Rota.

He was a commissioner of the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship, a consultor of the Congregation for the Clergy, and in 1982 caught the eye of Pope John Paul II as one of six canonists who reviewed the new Code of Canon Law with the pope before its promulgation in 1983.

On May 22, 1985, he was consecrated an auxiliary bishop for New York in the Basilica of SS. John and Paul in Rome by Cardinal Bernardin Gantin, prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops, with two co-consecrators: Cardinal O'Connor and Bishop John R. Keating of Arlington, Va., who died in 1998. He took as his episcopal motto: "In the Holiness of Truth."

The fact that a Chicagoan from Rome was ordained an auxiliary for New York, and that he was the first auxiliary ordained during Cardinal O'Connor's tenure, caused a stir in Church circles in the archdiocese. There was even published speculation that he was sent to "keep an eye on O'Connor for the Vatican," prompting the cardinal to reassure priests in an April 11, 1985, letter that that was not the case.

As events played out, it seems clear that the Vatican had recognized Bishop Egan's talents and wanted to put them to work in a diocese at home--to get experience under Cardinal O'Connor before he was assigned a diocese of his own, as he was on Nov. 8, 1988, when he went to Bridgeport.

Besides his diocesan duties in Bridgeport, he has worked with the National Conference of Catholic Bishops as chairman of the board of governors of the North American College, chairman of the Committee on Science and Human Values and as a member of the Committee on Canonical Affairs, the Committee on Education, the Committee on National Collections and the Committee on Nominations.

In New York as education vicar, his initiatives included an active role in negotiating a new contract with teachers in 1986 and the establishment of a teacher volunteer program for college graduates to give a year of service to inner-city high schools.

The program is still going strong, with five young women who have served this year and another five set to begin in September. They receive stipends and live in community with Sister Deanna Sabetta, C.N.D., archdiocesan vocation director for religious life, who set up the program at the direction of then-education vicar Egan.

"That was Bishop Egan's dream, that we tap young people's generosity for the Church," she said. "It was a dream come true."

Volunteers in the program--which started with men and women but now has only women--come from all over the country, and through the years there have been two vocations: one man became a Jesuit priest and another became a religious brother. Three women also are considering vocations, and many became lay missioners, Sister Deanna said.

Most of the volunteers, she added, have stayed in inner-city education and also perform community service. "You're never cured of a service heart," she said.

In another initiative, as education vicar, he devised a plan that shored up St. Peter's School in Liberty and helped it survive as Sullivan County's only Catholic school. The plan is similar to the regionalization plan he established throughout the Bridgeport Diocese.

In Sullivan County, all parishes in the county contribute to the support of the school whether or not any of their own students attend. Their contribution is based on their parish population.

Previously, if a parish did not have a school it could refer students to St. Peter's but then would pay a fee to St. Peter's for those children. The problem with that, school officials say, is that pastors were not inclined to refer parishioners to St. Peter's because the fees could be a financial burden.

"When a new family moves in with five or six kids, and you're already struggling to pay your bills, you're not going to want to add another big one," said Msgr. Edward F. Straub, vicar of Sullivan County and pastor of St. Peter's.

"When Bishop Egan was here he understood that Catholic education is a commitment of the archdiocese...and it should be borne by all of the local parishes, whether or not they have any students in the school," he said, adding that Bishop Egan came to Liberty to discuss the situation with pastors there.

"I was very grateful and thankful to Bishop Egan when he set this up because it did change the attitude in the area among the pastors about paying for the school. We're still in business because of that, and because of Cardinal O'Connor's commitment to us," he said.

Another archdiocesan education official who worked with the onetime vicar for education was James Simone, associate superintendent for special education.

"I have to say that Bishop Egan was very supportive of Catholic special education," he said. "He was absolutely available to me, he would visit individual programs and would sit in the classrooms with the students."

Also as education vicar, he spoke out against distributing contraceptives in public schools without parents' knowledge and criticized the city's sex education program, advocating that the schools teach abstinence instead.

During his time in the archdiocese, Archbishop-elect Egan gave many public addresses, including the 1985 St. Vincent de Paul lecture at St. John's University in Queens. He said there is a need for dialogue in the Church, but the fundamentals of Catholic belief are "simply not 'dialoguable' within the fold."

He told a 1986 audience at a Fellowship of Catholic Scholars convention in Manhattan that Catholics are coming to realize that growth comes not by discarding their religious heritage but by understanding it, and that many were, therefore, "looking for their roots."

In a 1987 homily during a summer seminar of the New York School of Liturgical Music in Manhattan, he told his fellow musicians to recognize the value of playing their music for God's honor. "Art is at its finest when it is aimed at the highest," he said.

In Bridgeport, Archbishop-elect Egan says his proudest accomplishments include the school regionalization program which halted the closing of Catholic schools in the diocese and resulted in increased enrollments and the opening of two new schools, including Connecticut's first Catholic school for children with special needs.

He also cited the expansion of Catholic Charities, whose budget has doubled and is now the largest private social-service agency in Fairfield County.

"In 1999 alone, we served 750,000 meals in one year to people who were hungry and up in years," he asserted proudly at his Manhattan news conference.

The biggest problem, he said, is finding "ways to make our churches bigger."

He is also "delighted" in the growth in vocations, which began when he opened the St. John Fisher Pre-Seminary Residence in Trumbull in 1989. By 1994, it was necessary to move it to a larger facility in Stamford, where it is now.

Since the opening of the residence, modeled after the St. John Neumann Residence in the Bronx, 54 men have been ordained for the Bridgeport Diocese--far surpassing the per capita ordinations of nearby New York and Boston archdioceses--and 30 are currently studying for the priesthood in various seminaries.

"He's been a tremendous, tremendous supporter of our vocations program. Selfishly, I'm sad to see him go," said Father Christopher J. Walsh, diocesan director of vocations.

He cited Archbishop-elect Egan's availability to priests and seminarians, the Bishop's Dinners he hosts and retreats he leads, and his decision to free up two priests for full-time work at the residence.

"He also gives us a good budget, so we can run the place at no expense to the guys," Father Walsh said.

Archbishop-elect Egan, giving his own views on the vocations success, said, "I believe that the number-one attraction for vocations, whether to the priesthood or religious life, is a happy group of priests and a happy group of religious.

"It's very, very important that a bishop and all his priests and religious together take joy and delight in what we're doing."