Cardinal Egan does himself no favors with this move.
Edward Cardinal Egan pulled a fast one on a lower Manhattan parish
pastor yesterday, summoning the priest to meet with him - then
dispatching security guards to permanently lock the cleric’s church
doors.
The priest returned to Our Lady of Vilnius to find
himself locked out - a brusque Egan move that left parishioners stunned
and saddened.
The cardinal’s move also occurred right before a
scheduled meeting with Lithuania’s consul general, who was set to make
a plea to save the church, parishioners and the Archdiocese of New York
said.
(snip)
But yesterday, Egan summoned the Rev. Eugene Sawicki to his Madison
Avenue office at 9 a.m., and told him “the closure is effective
immediately,” said archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling.
Even
as that meeting with the pastor was occurring, three security guards
were changing the locks on the parish doors and preventing anyone from
entering.
An hour later, Egan met with Lithuanian Consul
General Mindaugas Butkus, who hand-delivered President Valdas Adamkus’
letter, and told the cardinal that “we value [the church] very much . .
. it has historical value and cultural value.”
Butkus, who had scheduled the meeting days before, had no idea the closing was imminent.
Asked if he was insulted by Egan agreeing to hear his request when he
had already made up his mind, Butkus said, “I decline to comment.”
But he said Egan “expressed dissatisfaction” about the way the issue had been portrayed in the media.
Zwilling, asked if anything had happened between last week and
yesterday to prompt the cardinal’s sudden shuttering of the church,
said “nothing in particular,” and denied that Egan was miffed by press
coverage of the planned closure.
Update, now with video:
And ArchNY’s rather chilly press release.