EGAN TO EXPLAIN VIEWS TO PRIESTS

In a sermon to parishioners at St. Anastasia Church in Orange County, Edward Cardinal Egan did not directly address reports that, while bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut, he protected priests accused of sexual misconduct, according to New York Archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling.  Egan reportedly encouraged the Rev. Laurence Brett of the Bridgeport Diocese to remain in the priesthood despite knowing that he molested Frank Martinelli, then 15, in the 1960s.  It was reported int he Washington Post over the weekend that in a 1997 lawsuit against the Bridgeport Diocese, Egan also said he wouldn't automatically suspend a priest, even in the face of abuse accusations.