Michael Jude Byrnes (born August 23, 1958) is an American Catholic retired prelate who served as Archbishop of Agaña from 2019 to 2023. He was previously an auxiliary bishop in the

Archdiocese of Detroit The Archdiocese of Detroit ( la, Archidiœcesis Detroitensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church covering the Michigan counties of Lapeer, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne. It is ...

from 2011 to 2016.

Biography

Early life

Born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

, on August 23, 1958, Michael Ryan graduated from

Detroit Catholic Central High School Detroit Catholic Central High School, commonly known as Catholic Central (CC), is a private, Catholic, all-male, college preparatory high school in Novi, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1928 in Detroit, Michigan by the Archdiocese of Detro ...

. Byrnes was ordained to the priesthood by Cardinal

Adam Maida Adam Joseph Maida (born March 18, 1930) is an American cardinal prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. Maida served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan from 1990 to 2009, and was elevated to cardinal in 1994. Maida prev ...

at the

Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament The Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament is a Neo-Gothic style Roman Catholic cathedral church in the United States. It is the seat of the archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit. The metropolitan archdiocese for the Roman C ...

in Detroit on May 25, 1996, for the

. Beginning in 2004, he served as vice rector of

Sacred Heart Major Seminary Sacred Heart Major Seminary is a private Roman Catholic seminary in Detroit, Michigan. It is affiliated with the Archdiocese of Detroit. In 2016–2017, 107 seminarians, representing eleven dioceses and two religious orders were enrolled in cla ...

in Detroit as well as a parish pastor.

Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit

On March 22, 2011, Byrnes was appointed

titular bishop A titular bishop in various churches is a bishop who is not in charge of a diocese. By definition, a bishop is an "overseer" of a community of the faithful, so when a priest is ordained a bishop, the tradition of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox an ...

Eguga Eguga was a '' civitas'' in Africa Proconsulare during the Roman Empire. It was located in present-day Tunisia. The city was also the seat of an ancient Roman Catholic diocese. Eguga was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Carthage. The only bisho ...

and auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit. He was consecrated by Archbishop

Allen Henry Vigneron Allen Henry Vigneron (born October 21, 1948) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He is the current archbishop of the Archdiocese of Detroit in Michigan and Ecclesiastical Superior of the Cayman Islands, serving since 2009. Vi ...

at the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament on May 5, 2011. His co-consecrators were Archbishop John Nienstedt and Bishop John Quinn.

Coadjutor Archbishop and Archbishop of Agaña

On October 31, 2016, Byrnes was appointed by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

coadjutor archbishop The term coadjutor (or coadiutor, literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadj ...

with special faculties of the Archdiocese of Agaña. He was installed as coadjutor archbishop on November 30. Although Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agaña was found guilty on charges of the sexual abuse of minors by an Apostolic Tribunal of the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from Heresy in Christianity, heresy and is ...

on March 16, 2018, he was only suspended from the exercise of his authority over the archdiocese and retained his title pending the outcome of his appeals. Byrnes succeeded to the position of archbishop in everything except title at that time. Byrnes became archbishop of Agaña on April 4, 2019, when Apuron lost his title, having exhausted his appeals. On April 6, the

Holy See Press Office The Holy See Press Office ( la, Sala Stampa Sanctae Sedis; it, Sala Stampa della Santa Sede, links=http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/) publishes the official news of the activities of the Pope and of the various departments of the ...

confirmed that Byrnes had succeeded to the office of archbishop at the conclusion of judicial proceedings against Apuron.

Retirement

On March 28, 2023, Pope Francis accepted Byrnes' resignation as archbishop of Agaña for medical reasons. Byrnes had left Guam in June 2022 and been on medical leave for several months.

References

External links

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Agaña Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byrnes, Michael J. 1958 births Living people Clergy from Detroit 21st-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Detroit Religious leaders from Michigan American Roman Catholic bishops by contiguous area of the United States Roman Catholic archbishops of Agaña Bishops appointed by Pope Benedict XVI