October 14, 2020

Bishop-elect William Byrne greets Springfield Diocese at press event

REGIONAL
Story and photos by Carolee McGrath

 

SPRINGFIELD – Bishop-elect William D. Byrne, a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. was introduced to the Diocese of Springfield, Wednesday, Oct. 14 at a press conference held at the Bishop Marshall Center, here.

Pope Francis named him the 10^th bishop of the Springfield Diocese, with the announcement made today by Archbishop Christophe Pierre, the U.S. papal nuncio.

“On October 2 of this year, I received a phone call from Archbishop Christophe Pierre which indeed was life-changing,” said Bishop-elect Byrne in his opening remarks. He explained how he was humbled to be considered and at first almost didn’t believe it.

“October 2 is the Feast of the Guardian Angels and I thought to myself, ‘The Holy Father is naming me a bishop? My guardian angel must be asleep,’” he joked. “Until I realized that guardian angels don’t sleep. That’s a theological point. So, in fact what I was receiving was a profound gift, not just being a bishop, but being the bishop of western Massachusetts.”

Bishop-elect Byrne was born Sept. 26, 1964. A native of Washington, D.C., he is the youngest of eight children of Mary (Largent) Byrne and the late Dr. William Byrne, a thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon who passed away in 2011. He thanked his mother and father for “joyfully passing on the faith.”

Bishop-elect Byrne completed his undergraduate studies at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. He then taught for three years at Mater Dei before being accepted as a seminarian for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C. He studied at the Pontifical North American College in Rome, completing his licentiate in sacred theology from Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) and was ordained in 1994 by Cardinal James A. Hickey.

“For over 26 years, I have loved every minute of my priesthood, in moments both heartwarming and heartbreaking. I have found great and profound consolation in bringing Christ to my brothers and sisters,” Bishop-elect Byrne said.

From 1999 until 2007, he served as the chaplain for the University of Maryland’s Catholic Student Center in College Park. He was named pastor of St. Peter Parish in Washington, D.C., in 2007 where he served until 2015. From 2009 until 2015, while serving as pastor of St. Peter’s, Father Byrne was also secretary for pastoral ministry and social concerns for the Archdiocese of Washington. In 2015, Father Byrne was named pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in Potomac where he currently serves.

Bishop-elect Byrne’s ministry also includes service on the Archdiocese of Washington’s vocations team (1998), formation board (2002-present), priest council (2003-2006), priest personnel board (2006-2009), and archdiocesan administrative board (2009-2015). He also served on the board of directors of St. Ann’s Infant and Maternity Home, Catholic Youth Organization, and Redemptoris Mater Seminary, as well as the advisory board of the Lay Leadership Institute.

In 2007, he gave the homily to 20,000 Catholic youth and their leaders gathered at the Verizon Center for the annual Mass and Rally for Life which each year precedes the Annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

“Pro-life is fundamental to our vision of church and our belief in the dignity of the human person. If we don’t respect life in the womb, then how can we expect it to be respected at any other stage? So, that’s the building block of the whole defense of the dignity and the beauty of the human person,” he said.
In his comments, he also addressed the sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the church across the country and in the diocese.

“Some of our greatest challenges come from within. The shameful history of abuse in the church represents a systematic failure to protect our most vulnerable members, especially our children. It must be acknowledged and atoned for continuously. Each day we must recommit ourselves to doing the work of making sure this never, ever happens again,” he said.

Bishop-elect Byrne assumes the position left vacant when Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski was named as the archbishop of St. Louis on June 10 and was installed on Aug. 25. Since then, Worcester Bishop Robert J. McManus has been serving as the apostolic administrator of the Diocese of Springfield.

“I extend my prayers and best wishes to Bishop-elect William Byrne upon his appointment by the Holy Father to the Diocese of Springfield. I am confident that he will bring the same pastoral zeal to this wonderful diocese that he has demonstrated for the faithful in his assignments in the Archdiocese of Washington,” said Bishop McManus.

Bishop-elect Byrne is a popular columnist and very comfortable in front of the camera. He is a YouTube personality, with his series “Five Things,” highlighting five life hacks, prayer starters, or spiritual meditations to help people to grow closer to God and appreciate the small but vital things in life. The series was so popular that it has been developed into a book, Five Things with Fr. Bill, which is being released tomorrow, Oct. 15 by Loyola Press. He joked at the press conference that his mother told him, “He never met a camera he didn’t like.”

While he was able to put people at ease with his self-deprecating humor, he also focused on hope as he spoke, acknowledging the difficult times that people are facing.

“I’m choosing my motto: ‘In living hope through the resurrection.’ Once that tomb was empty, then the whole victory was won. Now there’s push back from evil in the world and from the evil one, but Jesus Christ is still going to win the day,” he told iObserve.

“In this whole process, I remember kneeling down early on in the pandemic and I was feeling low. And I was kneeling in the chapel in my parish and I heard the voice of the Lord say, ‘I’ve got this.’ And he’s got it. We just have to trust and believe in that,” he said.

He asked Catholics to continue to share their faith, even when it seems difficult to do so.

“If we find ourselves in despair, then we need to go and start bolstering up people in their faith. Even if it’s just a little bit, it will grow. It will grow like a flame in our hearts. Before we know it, we’re going to have a ‘pandemic’ of hope in western Massachusetts,” he said.

Bishop-elect Byrne will be ordained and installed as the 10^th bishop of Springfield on Dec. 14 at St. Michael’s Cathedral on State Street in Springfield.