Bishop Broderick dies; he was ex-head of CRS, former bishop of Albany

Published: 2006-07-06

ALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) -- Retired Bishop Edwin B. Broderick, who as head of Catholic Relief Services from 1976 to 1983 defended the U.S. bishops' overseas relief and development agency from accusations that it was a tool of U.S. foreign policy, died July 2 in Albany at age 89. He headed the Albany Diocese 1969-76. Appointed by Pope Paul VI, he was the eighth bishop of the diocese. A July 5 news release from the Albany Diocese said that Bishop Broderick died after a long illness, but it did not say what the illness was. He had lived at the Teresian House in Albany since May 2005. Up to then he was a resident of New York City. The Times Union daily newspaper in Albany reported he was hospitalized in March 2005 after a bad fall, and a month later fell again while visiting Albany. The paper said he had brain surgery after the second fall. A funeral Mass was to be celebrated July 7 at St. Pius X Church in Loudonville, N.Y., followed by burial at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, N.Y.

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