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Oct 16, 2006 7:00 pm US/Eastern
Local Clergy Chime In On Possible Next Cardinal
Priests: Candidate From Milwaukee Sounds Promising
by Tony Aiello
CHAPPAQUA, N.Y. (CBS) ―
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Cardinal Edward Egan (file)
AP
Priests are people, too. And like employees of any billion-dollar business, they're supremely interested in the status of "the boss."
That's especially true now with Edward Cardinal Egan under scrutiny, and due to offer his resignation in a matter of months.
CBS 2 talked to a number of priests who had gathered at St. John and St. Mary Church in Chappaqua.
"There are many names on many lists," said Fr. Ralph Villani, a priest assigned to a parish in New Rochelle. "No one really knows."
Villani said there's always speculation about a successor when an archbishop reaches retirement age.
Right now, there are a handful of names mentioned most frequently by those who follow the inner workings of the Roman Catholic Church.
Archbishop Timothy Dolan of Milwaukee is one name. He's often described as "gregarious," not a quality usually associated with Cardinal Egan.
"I understand he's doing a good job in Milwaukee," Villani said. "He's well-liked by the clergy, and quite involved resolving all the problems there."
The previous archbishop, Rembert Weakland, retired shortly after apologizing for paying more than $400,000 to a man with whom he'd had an intimate relationship.
Other names that keep popping up are New York native Edwin O'Brien, the archbishop of the U.S. Armed Forces, and Roberto Gonzalez Nieves, once a priest in the Bronx, now archbishop of San Juan, P.R.
Father John Duffell of Ascension Church in Manhattan said he hopes Egan's successor will be a more vocal spokesman for the church.
"The Archbishop of New York has always been the major religious voice," Duffell said, "and I think that's something we've been missing a little bit" with Cardinal Egan.
By tradition, Pope Benedict XVI doesn't accept an archbishop's resignation right away. So it could be months, or it could be years, before the speculation is resolved, and Egan's successor is known.
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