Former Detroit auxiliary bishop’s impact still felt at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, St. Joan of Arc Parish; funeral will be June 9
DETROIT — Archbishop Michael J. Byrnes is remembered as a prayerful man who was willing to go wherever God called him, walking stride for stride with the people he was called to serve.
Whether it was preparing the Archdiocese of Detroit for Synod 16, or re-establishing trust in the Church in Agaña, Guam, following a time of great distress, Archbishop Byrnes always provided a calm, discerning, Holy Spirit-filled presence to the people around him.
“Archbishop Byrnes was just someone who, to put it simply, ‘was a priest’s priest,’ with his spiritual and Scriptural insight,” Msgr. G. Michael Bugarin of St. Joan of Arc Parish in St. Clair Shores told Detroit Catholic. “His calm demeanor in the face of challenges, the way he would listen, make a decision and move on — he was definitely a priest who knew what it meant to accompany people, which is why people loved him no matter where he went.”
Archbishop Byrnes died May 30 at the age of 66 following a battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He will lie in state Sunday, June 8, at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit from 1 to 8 p.m., with a Scripture service at 7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Monday, June 9, at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament, preceded by visitation from noon to 1:45 p.m. Both are open to the public.
Archbishop Byrnes was a former Detroit auxiliary bishop who was called to lead the Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam, in 2016.
Archbishop Byrnes moved close to St. Joan of Arc Parish in St. Clair Shores, where he previously served as a newly ordained associate pastor, in 2022. In March 2023, Pope Francis accepted his resignation as archbishop of Agaña.
Parish staff and parishioners would constantly visit and assist Archbishop Byrnes as his condition deteriorated, joining him for dinner, taking him to restaurants and appointments, and assisting him with celebrating daily Mass in St. Joan of Arc’s chapel.
“When you look at the qualities of what makes for a good shepherd, they are really exemplified in Archbishop Byrnes,” Deacon Tom Strasz of St. Joan of Arc Parish said. “He was one of those few individuals who, in the face of confrontation, kept a really cool head. He could diffuse a lot of people just by his demeanor. It was uncanny. He had a way of thinking clearly, bringing the conversation back to the Lord and being Christ in other people’s lives.”
Deacon Strasz served as Archbishop Byrnes' secretary when the archbishop was a Detroit auxiliary bishop. The two spent time travelling the Northeast Region of the archdiocese for confirmations, meetings and retreats and recalled how the archbishop always had a discerning nature to get right to the heart of what people were discussing.
“It was one of the best jobs I ever had,” Deacon Strasz said. “He was a great guy to work for and a great mentor. I was ordained a deacon while I was working for him, and he helped me in learning what a deacon does. It was a privilege to see how he interacted with everyone in his role as a bishop.”
St. Joan of Arc parishioners fondly recall Archbishop Brynes’ time at the parish; he was assigned to St. Joan of Arc after he was ordained in 1996 and stayed there for three years.
“The people here loved him and were here for his priesthood from the very beginning,” St. Joan of Arc parishioner Patty Chase said. “In these last few years, we’ve had the opportunity to help him and visit him, with him living so close to the parish. Just walking with him on his journey, having him still be part of our community.”
Chase said Archbishop Byrnes, then simply known as “Father Mike,” had a calm presence about him that was particularly disarming and inviting.
“I was talking to a woman last night, one of the parishioners, and she was one of the people who came into the Church while Archbishop Byrnes was at the parish,” Chase said. “And she was told me how humble he was when she came to him with questions. He didn’t lord over her idea of the Catholic faith and point to a bunch of rules, as if we was untouchable or better than others. He brought a humility to it and a sense of accompaniment, and a deepening knowledge of Jesus in the Church and in her walk into the faith. Now she’s a catechist and is involved in different ministries in the parish.”
Archbishop Byrnes started the “Father Mike Marathon for Missions” at St. Joan of Arc, in which St. Joan of Arc students run around the parish to raise funds for the missions.
“Father Mike ran 25-plus marathons, which is what sparked the ‘Father Mike Marathon’ at St. Joan of Arc,” parishioner John Schrage said. “In the spring every year, all the kids in school would run several blocks around the school, and it was this big celebration, and Bishop Mike was deeply involved. He wasn’t a bishop at the time, but I remember him running the Turkey Trot before the Thanksgiving Day Parade. He was a big-time athlete; played football at Catholic Central, loved his Michigan Wolverines.”
Archbishop Byrnes’ love for running and for Sacred Scripture made him fast friends with Fr. Richard Cassidy when the two were professors at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit in the 2000s.
“He was a runner, and I was a runner, so that kind of reinforced that bond that we had in sharing a love for Sacred Scripture,” Fr. Cassidy said. “We both had the same perspective when it came to running and Scripture as these two major areas in our lives."
“Actually, he knew about my work because he had cited a book I wrote on St. Paul during his studies in Rome,” added Fr. Cassidy, 83, a professor of Sacred Scripture at the Detroit seminary. “When the book came out, it drew his attention because it came from his diocese. We didn’t know each other prior, but when he came to Sacred Heart Major Seminary and we started running together, he brought up that he had read my book.”
The two men would run together and sign up for Detroit marathons and other races around the country.
They even qualified for the 2006 Boston Marathon, but there was a slight scheduling glitch.
“Boston is always the third Monday in April, and we both qualified sometime in July or August. It wasn't until after Christmas and both of us were looking at the liturgical calendar for the coming season, and we almost simultaneously realized the Boston Marathon was going to be on the Monday after Easter,” Fr. Cassidy said. “We knew we couldn’t run, because it would disrupt our commitment to the Church for Holy Week.”
In a story that was documented in The Michigan Catholic newspaper, both Archbishop Byrnes and Fr. Cassidy were able to get deferrals from the Boston Athletic Association and move their qualifications to the next year.
In 2003, Archbishop Byrnes was named vice rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary, serving under now-Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Jeffrey M. Monforton, who was rector at the time. At the same time, Archbishop Byrnes also served as pastor of Presentation/Our Lady of Victory Parish in Detroit.
“Archbishop Michael Byrnes was a good, holy shepherd, embodied the Sacred Heart of Jesus, and was a dear friend,” Bishop Monforton said. “In his ministry, from the parish to Sacred Heart Major Seminary to his archdiocesan responsibilities, Archbishop Byrnes demonstrated unfailing fortitude, sharing God’s merciful goodness. Archbishop Byrnes was also a leader in gathering the family of faithful together, fostering charity and brotherly communion. He clearly lived the life of the bishop in the words of St. Augustine, ‘For you I am a bishop with you I am a Christian.’”
On March 22, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Byrnes as an auxiliary bishop of Detroit. He was ordained by Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron on May 5, 2011, along with current Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Arturo Cepeda and retired Auxiliary Bishop Donald F. Hanchon.
Archbishop Vigneron later tasked Archbishop Byrnes with preparing the Archdiocese of Detroit for a time of prayer and discernment leading up to Synod 16, as the local Church was praying to the Holy Spirit for a “New Pentecost” to reignite the Church in Detroit.
Archbishop Byrnes worked with Msgr. Ronald Browne, who at the time led the Synod 16 secretariat, a committee of clergy and laity tasked with planning and organizing the historic gathering.
“The first thing we started working on was putting together a committee to explore whether we should have a synod or not and make those recommendations to Archbishop Vigneron,” said Msgr. Browne, who today serves as regional moderator for the archdiocese's Northwest Region and is assigned to Our Lady Queen of Martyrs Parish in Beverly Hills. “Archbishop Byrnes was pretty much the one, along with Archbishop Vigneron, deciding who should be on that committee when it was decided that, ‘Yes, we should have a synod.’”
Msgr. Browne said Archbishop Byrnes’ guidance helped the Synod 16 organizers discern and distill the information and feedback they were receiving from parish- and region-wide listening sessions and synthesize those responses into clear topics to be discerned at the synod.
“We had all these prayer services, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament at various parishes and areas through the archdiocese to help bring about a prayerfulness to help guide us through this,” Msgr. Browne said.
As the two-year buildup of prayer, discussion and discernment was getting down to the moment the synod would take place — Nov. 18-20, 2016, Msgr. Browne said it was the middle of August when synod leaders weren’t sure if they had clear-cut points of discernment for the synod.
That’s when Archbishop Byrnes, relying on the graces of the Holy Spirit, came through.
“It was really his ability to put together a small group of people in the archdiocese and curia, putting them together and allowing them to review everything and synthesize it,” Msgr. Browne said. “He allowed them to have a great amount of input and insight; it wasn’t where he told them, ‘This is what I want coming out of it.’ He allowed the process to work and relied on the people's words. It really allowed for the important matters to come to the surface.”
Just weeks before the synod was set to begin, on Oct. 31, 2016, the call came from Rome: Pope Francis was appointing Archbishop Byrnes to serve as coadjutor archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam.
Archbishop Byrnes stayed in Detroit to see Synod 16 through, but his new mission was clear.
“I think his work had been done as far as the synod was concerned, so he was free, and God saw it to move him where he was needed more, I think,” Msgr. Browne said. “His presence was needed to help narrow down and focus what was to be discussed at the synod, and from there, he was needed elsewhere.”
Archbishop Byrnes was called to the Archdiocese of Agaña in a time of great distress in the local Church. His predecessor, Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, was relieved of his pastoral and administrative authority in 2016 following allegations of sexual abuse of minors, and it was Archbishop Byrnes’ task to restore the reputation and confidence in the Church in the predominantly Catholic Pacific island territory.
In a statement, current Agaña Archbishop Ryan P. Jimenez said Archbishop Byrnes' sacrifice and unwavering dedication to Guam's faithful will not be forgotten.
"My predecessor as the shepherd of the Catholic faithful in Guam will always be remembered for the tremendous faith, dedication, and perseverance he showed as he led the archdiocese during some of the most difficult years in the history of our Church on Guam," Archbishop Jimenez said. "He demonstrated great courage, faith and obedience on Oct. 31, 2016, when he answered the call from Pope Francis to travel many miles away to shepherd our people in a place he knew little about."
"Michael Jude Byrnes has a cherished place in the history of our Church on Guam as well in the hearts of our people," Archbishop Jimenez continued. "We grieve his death but also give thanks to our merciful God for the gift of this devout servant, leader, and friend whom he bestowed to us."
Archbishop Byrnes' willingness to go halfway around the world to help a Church in distress summarizes his willingness to say ‘yes’ to whatever God asked of him, Msgr. Bugarin added.
“Archbishop Byrnes wasn’t worried about how it would all end or how it was going to be accomplished; he just knew that the Holy Spirit was calling him to a new assignment, and it was a beautiful yes,” Msgr. Bugarin said. “When you talk about a successor to the apostles, Archbishop Byrnes is that personified. And when you look at how the Holy Spirit called him to all these roles, you see God had a purpose, a reason for all of it, and we were all so blessed to be part of that journey.”
Whether it was running marathons or running meetings, discussing Scripture with a colleague or sharing a meal with friends, Archbishop Byrnes carried himself with a quiet confidence in God through all of life’s stages, and that is what people will remember about him, friends say.
“A true disciple of Jesus,” Chase said. “A shepherd who led many others to come to know Christ and his Church. The community of St. Joan of Arc mourns his loss, but we feel we have an intercessor in heaven. Really, everyone who knew him was the better for it. And now he prays for us.”
