Welcome Bishop Boyea – the fifth bishop of Lansing
On the day of the press conference announcing his appointment to the Diocese of Lansing, Bishop Boyea sat down with FAITH for a conversation about himself, the diocese and his episcopacy.

What was your reaction when you got the call from the nuncio? Well, I’ll give you the full story: On Feb. 12, I was in South Bend for the bishops’ meeting on the Word of God. Just before supper, I was in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel and I remember that I knelt down at about 6:10 p.m. and prayed. After supper, we went back to our hotel and I called to see if I had any messages. There was a message from the nuncio to please call him. So, just before 9 that night, I called. The nuncio said I had been named to Lansing and he asked, “Do you accept?” I said, “Oh yes, I am very happy about this.” Then he told me we needed to figure a date for the announcement in three to four weeks. I thought to myself, “Three to four weeks? I am not going to be able to wait three or four weeks.” When I called the next morning, he asked for my first choice and told me to pick a significant date. I chose Feb. 22, which was a Friday, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter. The nuncio said, “That is a wonderful day, a very good day! However, that is a feast in Rome. They don’t do anything in Rome on a feast day.” So I told him my second choice: Feb. 27, my sisters’ birthday. He said, “Good, you will remember it then.”
Then we chose April 29 as the date of my installation, because it is the anniversary of my ordination to the diaconate.

What is your impression so far of the diocese? I really believe this is the best diocese in the state! It’s a great diocese – largely because of your clergy and your bishop. Bishop Mengeling has done a great job. He really has. As I say, he will be a tough act to follow.
Speaking of Bishop Mengeling, you have worked with him before. Is there a memory that you can share about him? Just a general memory; his sense of humor, his warmth, his charm and obviously he is clearly a man of faith. There is just no doubt about that.
How were you called to the priesthood? Oh, I have known since I was 7 years old. I think God wanted me to be a priest. I just never had any serious doubts about it. I had other things that interested me, that pulled me away, but they were never as strong as the call to priesthood.

What is the most rewarding part of your priesthood so far? Seminary work. I absolutely love seminary work. The seminarians constantly challenge me to be more zealous, more faithful and more generous, because they are that way. I think almost any group of priests can tell you that after a time you can get in a rut; you get settled, and if there is nobody there that will really perk you up a little bit, it is hard to do that on your own. The seminarians have always been able to challenge me that way.

You have been a teacher, a rector and a historian; how do you anticipate those roles affecting your new role as the ordinary? Well, I have administered the seminary and I think that being the rector of a seminary is unlike any other role you play in the church. The rector is responsible for everything in the seminary. Absolutely everything, which means having your hand in everything. I had about 30 bishops, vocation directors, and the board of trustees to whom I was responsible. I think that has really prepared me to be a bishop.

What is your favorite period of history? My specialty is the area in which I did my doctoral work – American church history. That is what I am teaching this semester at the seminary. Apart from that, I really like medieval history.

Anything specific? The era of Charlemagne because it’s about beginnings. I love beginnings. I like to see where things started, and it is always very difficult to determine the beginning of things. It is always tough because there usually are only traces. So it is hard to see how things begin. Most historians will say that medieval history began earlier than Charlemagne – and that is true, but with Charlemagne so many things began in church history and our ecclesial reality. I could go on and on about Charlemagne because I love that period of history.

All bishops choose a motto: Why did you choose your particular motto, in manus tuas? It is Jesus on the cross reciting Psalm 32. We say it every night in night prayer. It is a constant, and I think I should put something on my coat of arms that is part of my daily prayer life. And so it is that.

What is your favorite Scripture passage – is it that same psalm? No, I don’t know that I have a favorite. I guess the one that I go back to a lot, not so much just for myself, but for didactic purposes, is John 6, where Jesus is challenging everyone on the reality of the Eucharist and people walk away. And Jesus doesn’t say, “Wait, I was just kidding – come on back here,” or “I was speaking symbolically.” Instead, he makes it even stronger. This was hard for people to hear and they walked away.
I think that we have lost sight in some ways of the difficulty – not the pain – but the difficulty of really being Christian and how important it is to give ourselves to that. And with God’s grace, we can do anything.

What do you think makes it difficult for so many people? I think that, in many ways, it is the reality of the Incarnation, the reality of the Eucharist, which are all of one piece. That God would actually become man is so utterly incredible, in the truest sense of that word – it is unbelievable. And yet, with God’s grace, we are called to believe that. If you don’t have that, if you don’t have the truth that God became man, nothing else makes any sense. I suppose that in some ways I am venturing here down the road of Dostoevsky and Bonaventure. They tend to emphasize the role of the Incarnation of Christ. This is really important – and it manifests itself through our sacramental reality.

Who has been a role model for you personally? First was my pastor when I was a boy, Father Frederick Delaney of Our Lady of the Lakes Parish in Waterford. And too, the associate priests there, Father Larry Kaiser and Father Philip Bailiff, were both wonderful. After that would be my spiritual directors, one of whom is Father Douglas Osborne of the Diocese of Lansing. I just asked him if he would again be my confessor.

Who is your favorite saint? I think it would be St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. She was absolutely remarkable, just remarkable. Having kids and trying to raise them and also founding a religious community. And boy, did she have difficulties. She struggled with the faith and came to it happily. She really embraced the faith, even though it meant cutting so many ties and so many people. It was all worth it to her – that was the point. It was all worth it.

Could you give us an idea of what your leadership style is? (Laughs) You should probably ask others. I don’t think anyone can describe their own leadership style. They might think they know their own leadership style. I like to think I am a good delegator, whether I am or not. Yet I am also concerned that I make sure I oversee everything. It’s a balance. A balance between being responsible and yet also letting others exercise their responsibilities.

How would you characterize your spirituality? I suppose the best way to describe it is that I very much like Lectio Divina – probably more the Carmelite spiritualities. Although I hate to put myself in a box, because I’m kind of an eclectic when it comes down to that. But I do like the Carmelites very much, and I think that their spirituality is less programmed than some others, which I like. I have read a lot of Carmelite spiritual writers and they have been my favorites.

What would you say has been your greatest accomplishment as a bishop? I oversaw the northeast region of the Archdiocese of Detroit, which included Macomb and St. Claire counties, and I think my greatest accomplishment there has been helping the parishes merge. In most of the circumstances they have been mergers that involved keeping several worship sites, so that it hasn’t led to the closure of a lot. I think we have only closed about two church buildings or so. The thing that has been very helpful about this process is that it eases the load of the priests. Priests don’t mind saying Mass, in my experience. It is having two parish council meetings and two worship meetings. If you can ease priests’ administrative loads by having one bookkeeper and one set of books, they don’t mind and most people are content. They know the office isn’t there anymore, but if they can have one Mass in their building, as long as the whole new parish can pay for that, it is fine. Then it is the parishioners’ decision to see how they use the buildings and what happens to them. And I think largely that has gone well in my region.

Regarding the pastoral planning process, what are your thoughts about coming into a diocese that is in the throes of that as well? I know this is going to involve my going around and meeting at a number of these parishes to talk with people and to hear from them. And I am willing to do that. I think that is important. I think decisions like these should not be fully implemented until the bishop has been there to talk to the people. That’s vital. I’ll do the best I can.

Overall, what are the blessings and burdens of being a bishop? The burdens are easy to define: You don’t have a family, a community that you know really well, because you are constantly going around and meeting people. Being in seminary work has meant a very close-knit community to me – a deep, deep friendship with the staff, with faculty and with students. I loved that. That was the glue of my life. So not having that by virtue of being a bishop has been tough. Not having a tight community is the burden, the cross that is given to bishops.
The blessing of being a bishop is that the church needs bishops, and the amazing thing is that I hear that time and again from people, from priests and from deacons. They want a bishop. We, as Catholics, have that apostolic ministry. Somebody has to do this, and I guess the blessing is that God has asked me to do that as part of his will for me. So, I embrace that.

What would you say are the most important issues facing the church today? I think the most important is vocation – the call to holiness. We don’t hear enough of God’s call because there are so many competing noises. And that manifests itself in the crisis of the vocation for marriage as well in the crisis of vocations for religious life, for the priesthood and for the permanent diaconate. At heart, it is the issue of vocation. I have no doubt at all that God is calling everyone to salvation and calling in such a way that it can be heard. He is not playing games with people. God calls us sufficiently. We are just not hearing and we are not responding generously. I think that is the biggest problem today.

That leads to the Pew study that was recently released about Americans’ decline in religious affiliation, particularly Catholics. What do you think the church’s response needs to be to that or can be? It can only be what Paul suggests, that is to preach the Gospel both by our lives and by our words. As it says in Romans, if the Word is not heard, who will believe? If it is not preached, who will hear it? We need to preach the Gospel in season and out, with our lives as well as our words. And we are all sinners, so it can be very difficult to bring those together in our lives.

How do you think the church has weathered the last 10 years? It is hard to say because many have left. I think a lot of people left a long time ago. I think they left in the ’70s and ’80s. So who knows how far back that 10 percent of the American population, who count themselves as former Catholics, goes? But we continue to lose people, so that has not been good. On the other hand, there are those Catholics who stuck with it. I was at Rainbow with 3,000 young people recently – I had a couple of talks and confessions. What enthusiasm! And every time I go to confirmations, the incredible enthusiasm of the parents and the young people! I don’t know how many of them are going to church regularly, but it seems to me that there is great hope there. There is a hunger and a yearning; I just think we must make sure we are presenting the Word of Christ properly so that they will find satisfaction in that.

Do you have any changes or projects you know you would like to implement as you come in? (Laughs) No, I am really hoping to coast for the next five years.

What are you planning to do in your first 100 days? I do want to meet with all the priests. I am hoping that can be arranged through the regions with groupings of priests.

What about opportunities to meet with the people of the diocese? Well, I don’t know if I can do it in the first 100 days. I know that sometimes a bishop will go to a region and the priests and laity will be there; and that is a good thing. But I want to make sure I meet with the priests in a way that they don’t get swallowed up by a bigger thing. But yes, I want to get around to as many of the parishes as I can.

Could you tell us a little bit about your family? I am one of 10 children.

Are your siblings all still living? They are, all nine of them. The youngest are twin girls. They are 19 years younger than I and their birthdays are today. They are celebrating their birthdays by going to Florida for a week. And their husbands take care of the houses for them. They try to do this every year on their birthdays. I am very close to them. One lives in Wisconsin, so I don’t see her a whole lot, but the other lives in Ferndale. She has three boys, ages 5, 8 and 10. I was baby-sitting there Monday for her, and they conned me into letting them play their computer game. They weren’t supposed to do that.

How many nieces and nephews do you have? I have nine nephews and three nieces. My nephews I call my pall bearers. They are all going to have to carry me. They can’t right now because they are too weak; they’ll need to be strengthened and built up. And hopefully much older.

What do you do for fun? Read. I love to read and visit my family: Mom and Dad.
Are your parents living in Cheboygan? Yes, in fact I am going up there today to visit. They are in their late 70s.

What kind of music do you like? I don’t listen to it any more, just because I don’t have the opportunity. But I use to love WRIF. Now I listen to classical music, but I really don’t listen much to radio. But if it is on in my car, which is not often, I listen to news radio.

Is there anything else you would like the readers of the magazine to know? Anything we haven’t asked you that you would like to share? Just that I am very grateful to God, to the pope and certainly to Bishop Mengeling for this assignment and for this change of life now. I have a new family. I feel like St. Joseph. St. Joseph was given a family that wasn’t his own and he loved that family, cared for that family. I am hoping to do as St. Joseph did.