Sighting religion in the public realm does not take one away from the organized church if one finds clerical leaders "out there" like the most public priest we have known, Chicago's Monsignor John "Jack" Egan.

The best-known and most loved (and sometimes, by exactly the right people, the most hated) priest hereabouts, he was nationally known for his passion for justice, his compassion, and his friendliness. Years ago, those of us who straggled or cowered at the rear of the civil rights events knew he was always up front. Egan was booted out of town by then-Cardinal John Cody and brought back as a first move by his successor, Joseph Cardinal Bernardin. The moves in both directions, and his summons to Notre Dame by Father Theodore Hesburgh, are all tributes to the monsignor.

Passingly, he was for the ordination of women and the priesthood for married men, but he was also fiercely loyal to the church he considered both holy and broken. "I label myself a dissenter. Yet prayerful, responsible dissent has always played a role in the church." In his pattern of loyalty, as in so many other expressions, he reminded one of Dorothy Day of blessed memory.

This is not a merely local story, since Egan had national influence. A related story also has a Chicago tagline and national implications. On May 19, the very day friend Egan died, Francis Cardinal George ordained only ten men to the priesthood. Remember, the Archdiocese of Chicago is as populated as all but five or six entire Protestant denominations in America. We noted that the majority of the new priests are from foreign lands, including one from a place called "Lutheranism." As for these new "poor world" priests, more power to them and may their numbers increase, bringing new perspectives and gifts -- we've seen some in action.

Where, however, are the people with names like "Egan?" Or the Poles or Italians or Czechs who vastly, vastly outnumber Indonesians, Filipinos, and others from nations now supplying Chicago with priests? This is not the place for a Protestant to lobby or advise ("if they have not heard the voices of the Jack Egans, surely they will not hear the voices of outsiders"). Such advice in this context would be in bad taste and come with ill grace, since most non-Catholic denominations are having similar problems of undersupply in pastoral vocations.

One can celebrate the remarkable burst of activity by lay men and lay women in today's not-yet-priestless Catholicism. But something will be missing from public life when no one is wearing the clerical collar as a special identification, a scandal, a sign, as Egan did. So our tears at the memorial were because we have lost Egan -- but also, much more than that.