Priests fault Egan for his treatment of accused clerics

In a rare challenge, 74 priests of the Archdiocese of New York indirectly assailed Cardinal Edward M. Egan for failing to support their brother priests accused of sexual abuse, and called for a face-to-face meeting.

“We need to tell you again what you already know; the morale of the New York presbyterate is at an all-time low,” the priests said in a petition to the cardinal. The reason, they said, is that the propositions of church law and Pope John Paul II’s teachings on a bishop’s care of his priests “have not been done.”

Accused priest gets support

Msgr. Charles M. Kavanagh may be facing banishment from the priesthood over a sexual abuse allegation. But if he goes, it will not be quietly.

Yesterday, he bathed in a sea of love from nearly 300 friends, former parishioners and family members who came to a banquet hall in the Bronx to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his ordination.