Charles J. O'Byrne (born 1959) is an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, former Jesuit priest, and former political staffer to

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has ...

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to December 2010. A ...

. O'Byrne served as Secretary to the Governor—the highest unelected position in New York government—during the Paterson administration. He stepped down from that position in October 2008 after admitting to having failed to pay five years' worth of taxes. O'Byrne previously served as Chief of Staff to Paterson when Paterson served as a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

and as

Lieutenant Governor of New York The lieutenant governor of New York is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the Government of the State of New York. It is the second highest-ranking official in state government. The lieutenant governor is elected on a ticket wit ...

. He also worked as a speechwriter for Howard Dean's 2004 presidential campaign. Prior to entering politics, O'Byrne practiced law and was a member of the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

for 12 yearsGoldiner, Dave.
Chief of staff for incoming Gov. David Paterson a former Jesuit priest
. '' Daily News''. March 13, 2008. before departing his order and authoring a controversial 2002 article about Catholic priests and seminarians.

Early life, education, and early career

O'Byrne was born into an

Irish Catholic Irish Catholics are an ethnoreligious group native to Ireland whose members are both Catholic and Irish. They have a large diaspora, which includes over 36 million American citizens and over 14 million British citizens (a quarter of the British ...

family in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

.Memmott, A. James.
Ex-priest is valued adviser to NY governor
". ''

The New York Observer ''The New York Observer'' was a weekly newspaper printed from 1987 to 2016, when it ceased print publication and became the online-only newspaper ''Observer''. The media site focuses on culture, real estate, media, politics and the entertainmen ...

''. March 19, 2008. His father was a teacher and then a principal in New York public schools, and his mother was a psychologist.Horowitz, Jason.
Gov. Paterson's Main Man: Former Jesuit, 'Natural' Politician Charles O'Byrne
". ''The New York Observer''. March 15, 2008. O'Byrne graduated from

Red Bank Catholic High School Red Bank Catholic High School is a four-year private coeducational Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic secondary education in the United States, high school, located in Red Bank, New Jersey, Red Bank in Monmouth County, New Jersey, Monmouth Co ...

in New Jersey in 1977. O'Byrne attended

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

and graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' in 1981, majoring in history with a concentration in the Medieval and Renaissance periods.Peters, Jeremy W.
The Tough Guy and Political Newcomer Who Counsels New York's Governor
. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

''. March 20, 2008. During college, he took a summer job in the

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Attorney General's office The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is a department of His Majesty's Government that supports the Attorney General and their deputy, the Solicitor General (together, the Law officers of the Crown in England and Wales). It is sometimes referred ...

, and at 22, became acting superintendent of elections and acting commissioner of registration in Monmouth County. He went on to

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

, graduating with a J.D. in 1984. At Columbia, O'Byrne became close friends with Stephen Smith Jr., a member of the

Kennedy family The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...

. After law school, he worked as a corporate litigator at the Manhattan office of

Rosenman & Colin Rosenman & Colin LLP was a New York City-based law firm that practiced from 1912 to 2002, at which point the firm merged with Chicago-based Katten Muchin Zavis to form Katten Muchin Rosenman. The firm previously practiced under the name Rosenman ...

LLP A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is not ...

Priesthood

O'Byrne left corporate law for a vocation to the priesthood in 1989 and attended Saint John Neumann Residence and Hall, a preparatory school for seminarians under the

Archdiocese of New York The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the boroug ...

. O'Byrne was later admitted into Saint Andrew Hall, the Jesuit Novitiate in Syracuse for his primary formation as a Jesuit. He professed his vows as a Jesuit at the LeMoyne College Chapel in

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy *Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' *Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York **North Syracuse, New York *Syracuse, Indiana * Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, Miss ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

in 1991 and completed his philosophy studies at

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

. O'Byrne went on to seminary at Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1994 and received two master's degrees. During his studies in Cambridge, he acted as Harvard Law School's chaplain and worked as a teaching fellow at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

with Robert Coles, the Pulitzer-prize winning author. In 1996, O'Byrne was ordained as a priest. He received a voluntary Decree of Dismissal from the Society of Jesus in 2002 when his superiors determined that he no longer wished to remain in the Order. A friend of the Kennedy family, O'Byrne acted as a spiritual adviser during the 1991 rape trial of Stephen Smith's brother,

William Kennedy Smith William Kennedy Smith (born September 4, 1960) is an American physician and a member of the Kennedy family who founded an organization focused on land mines and the rehabilitation of landmine victims. He is known for being charged with rape in a ...

, and officiated at the marriage of

John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American lawyer, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was a son of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kenn ...

and

Carolyn Bessette Carolyn Jeanne Bessette-Kennedy (January 7, 1966July 16, 1999) was a publicist for Calvin Klein. After her marriage to John F. Kennedy Jr., Bessette-Kennedy's relationship with her husband and her fashion sense became the subjects of media scru ...

in 1996. In 1999, he presided over the funeral of Kennedy and Bessette in New York City after they died in a plane crash. As of 2008, he was a trustee of the Jean K. Smith Trust, the Kennedy Smith Foundation and the Smith Family Trust. In a 2006 financial disclosure, he listed gifts in excess of $1,000 and trustee commissions from members of the Smith family.

Aftermath

O'Byrne authored "Sex & Sexuality: One Man's Story About Religious Life and What Seminaries Really Teach About Sex", a controversial September 2002 article in ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' magazine that alleged hypocrisy and sexual dysfunction in the Catholic Church.O'Byrne, Charles J.
SEX & SEXUALITY: One Man's Story About Religious Life And What Seminaries Really Teach About Sex
". ''

''. September 2002. The article caused some controversy, portraying O'Byrne's fellow seminarians as men who entered the religious life with "little or no sexual experience"Montanaro, David.
New York State of Mind
". ''

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

''. March 14, 2008. who made up for lost time. O'Byrne asserted that there was "sex all around me, including relationships between Jesuits." He also asserted that there was a prevalence of priests who held an unnatural interest in young male parishioners. O'Byrne, who is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, later left the Catholic Church and became a practicing

Episcopalian Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the l ...

Political career

In 2003, O'Byrne joined

Howard Dean Howard Brush Dean III (born November 17, 1948) is an American physician, author, lobbyist, and retired politician who served as the 79th governor of Vermont from 1991 to 2003 and chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) from 2005 to 200 ...

's presidential campaign as Policy Director for New York, and was then hired as a speechwriter. After Dean dropped out of the race, O'Byrne went to work for State Senate Minority Leader David Paterson as a speechwriter and policy analyst. In 2006, O'Byrne became Paterson's Chief of Staff. O'Byrne maintained his position as Chief of Staff when Paterson was elected

, and was elevated to Secretary to the Governor (the functional equivalent of a Chief of Staff) when Paterson was sworn in as Governor in March 2008 following the resignation of

Eliot Spitzer Eliot Laurence Spitzer (born June 10, 1959) is an American politician and attorney. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the 54th governor of New York from 2007 until his resignation in 2008. Spitzer was b ...

.Smith, Ben.
Friday reading: Charles O'Byrne
. ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...

''. March 14, 2008. O'Byrne was variously described as Paterson's "quarterback", "gatekeeper", "alter ego", "confidant", and "enforcer", and as "the glue that held the administration together". O'Byrne was responsible for hiring

Christopher O. Ward Christopher Owen Ward (born 1954) is an American civil servant who served as executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey from May 22, 2008, until November 1, 2011, and as New York City Department of Environmental Protecti ...

as Executive Director of the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorized ...

. On October 24, 2008, O'Byrne resigned from his post following the revelation that he owed nearly $300,000 in back taxes. O'Byrne admitted to having failed to pay taxes for five years. After O'Byrne's unpaid taxes became public knowledge, he contended that his failure to pay was caused by depression. In an interview, O'Byrne's psychiatrist, Dr. Howard Kremen, said he had treated O'Byrne for depression from 2001 through 2006 and said he attributed Mr. O'Byrne's tax problems to his condition.

Later career

Since 2012, O'Byrne has served as Executive Vice President for Policy at Related Cos, where he focuses on government relations with Washington DC, Albany, and City Hall. In 2022,

New York City Mayor The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

Eric Adams mentioned O'Byrne as a member of his kitchen cabinet. O'Byrne is also known as an advocate for LGBTQ+ advancement in New York. In 2021, he was ranked #11 on the ''City&State of NY''’s "Pride Power 50," and was listed among ''Politics NY''’s "LGBTQ+ Power Players of 2023."

References