Retiring Cardinal Egan to host final show on The Catholic Channel

New York City, N.Y., Mar 31, 2009 / 15:49 pm

Cardinal Edward Egan, the retiring Archbishop of New York, will host a retrospective covering his nine years in New York City in the final episode of his radio show “A Conversation with the Cardinal,” which will be broadcast on April 2.

The show will air on The Catholic Channel from 3:00 to 4:00 pm Eastern time on SIRIUS channel 159 and XM channel 117.

Cardinal Egan will look back at his years as archbishop, talk about his future plans and recall some highlights of his career, according to a SIRIUS XM press release.

He has hosted his show since December 2006 with Catholic Channel program director Rob Astorino. The cardinal answered listener e-mails, discussed a variety of significant issues and also addressed current events in the archdiocese.

The cardinal described his appearances on the radio show as “a splendid way” to talk directly with people from across North America.

“It has also been a great deal of fun,” Cardinal Egan said. “I’m grateful to the audience who have listened and asked so many interesting questions. Their comments and their support were tremendously inspiring and I will miss having the opportunity to be with them each week.”

SIRIUS XM pointed to the success of the show by reproducing a letter from a longtime listener who converted to the Catholic Church 12 years ago. The son of two ordained clergy in the Evangelical Friend Church (Quaker), the listener told how his father admired Cardinal Egan’s show and was particularly struck by an episode in which the cardinal defended the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist using a biblical passage from 1 Corinthians 11.

“I cannot thank you enough, Your Eminence, for the witness of authentic Catholic Christianity you have been to my father through the Catholic Channel,” the listener wrote. “I will be forever grateful and pray for you to have a blessed and productive retirement.

The Catholic Channel is produced by the Archdiocese of New York and SIRIUS XM. The channel says its mission is to entertain people of all ages with a “refreshingly unexpected approach” to matters of faith and spirituality. The channel aims to “educate, enlighten and inspire” adults of all ages.

Its website is located at http://www.sirius.com/thecatholicchannel.