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Modest and quiet. Reserved and introspective. Those are all words that come to mind when describing Auxiliary Bishop Peter Byrne. Perhaps they are unlikely words to match someone in such a high profile post.
“I’m humbled, but if this is what God wants, if he kicks the ball in your direction, you might as well run with it,” Auxiliary Bishop Peter Byrne said in a recent interview at St. Elizabeth’s rectory in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan.
He has served as pastor of St. Elizabeth’s since last July, after spending 18 years as pastor of Immaculate Conception parish on Staten Island. Relaxed and smiling, with a sparkle in his kind eyes, he appears quite comfortable in his leadership role.
Of his short tenure at St. Elizabeth’s, he said, “I like the people. There are a lot of activities and societies here. It’s an interesting place.” And he couldn’t say enough good things about his parishioners. At the top of his list was the fact that they are “warm” and “supportive.”
Bishop Byrne was administrator of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Bronx, 1992-1994. He served as parochial vicar of St. Teresa’s, Sleepy Hollow, 1984-1992. Following the World Trade Center tragedy of September 11, 2001, he volunteered his priestly service to bereaved families for many weeks at the Ground Zero morgue.
He told CNY he greatly admires the fraternity of the priesthood. During his early years at Sleepy Hollow and in the Bronx, he served with priests who set a positive example for him. Among them were: Auxiliary Bishop Francisco Garmendia, Msgr. Robert Moore, Father Christopher Daly, Father Frank Gorman and Father Fernando Hernandez.
The bishop is now the one setting an example for younger priests. Father Lorenzo Laboy, parochial vicar at St. Elizabeth’s, told CNY he feels “incredibly grateful to God for being sent here as a newly ordained priest.”
“His guidance has helped me a lot in my own priesthood,” he said.
Father Laboy also noted that Bishop Byrne enjoys working with the youth of the parish. There are about 50 members between ages 14 and 21 in the youth group at St. Elizabeth’s. “He just naturally loves the youth. It’s a gift God has given him,” Father Laboy said.
At Immaculate Conception, Staten Island, Bishop Byrne was also greatly involved with the youth. So much so that he led members of the youth group on a pilgrimage to World Youth Day in Madrid, Spain, three summers ago. When temperatures and humidity reached nearly unbearable levels, the pastor stayed right there with the youths overnight in the sweltering heat on a dusty field in anticipation of the Papal Mass attended by 1.5 million people.
He noted proudly then that the group brought their faith along with them to Spain. “They came with a lot of enthusiasm,” he said, adding that World Youth Day “is a great gift for the Church.”
“He is a quiet man, an unassuming man, a reflective man. And he has a great dedication to the Church and to the people, that you can always tell,” said Thomas Cunningham, who met Bishop Byrne when he was working at Immaculate Conception School, Staten Island.
“I think he will bring a great sense of reverence to the position,” said Cunningham, who is now principal of St. Elizabeth’s School.
Bishop Byrne grew up in Stuyvesant Town as the son of John and Dorothy Byrne. He has one older sister, Mary Rogan. He attended Immaculate Conception Elementary School in Manhattan and Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history and social studies from Jesuit-run Fordham University in the Bronx.
He is also fluent in Spanish. He studied the subject at Cathedral College, Douglaston, and also in the Dominican Republic for a summer.
There were a couple of twists and turns in Bishop Byrne’s own priestly vocation. He entered the seminary in 1974, before being granted a leave of absence three years later. During his leave he taught at Catholic schools in Valhalla and Brooklyn. When he returned to St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie, for good in 1983, “all the doubts were removed,” he said.
He participates in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament as frequently as he can, and credits the practice as “the heart of the priesthood.”
“It’s always given me strength and perseverance,” he said.
At 63, he is the youngest of the three newly ordained auxiliary bishops. “I honestly never thought about it for a minute before it happened that I would be named a bishop,” he told CNY.
“I was surprised myself,” he said with a laugh.
When his friends were asked about his selection, each one unwaveringly responded that he will make a great bishop.
One such friend is Deacon James Stalhnecker of St. Mary of the Assumption parish, Staten Island. The two became acquainted when Father Byrne was involved with the Staten Island Vicariate’s Respect Life Committee. Father Byrne served as committee chairman and Deacon Stahlnecker was coordinator.
“I knew Father Peter Byrne was very involved in life issues so I asked him to become chairman and he readily accepted. For the last 15 or 16 years, we’ve been working very closely with the Family Life/Respect Life Office,” Deacon Stahlnecker told CNY.
The deacon also has served as coordinator of a 24-hour adoration chapel at Alba House on Staten Island. For more than 20 years, Father Byrne took an hour every Tuesday night from 11 to midnight. “He has a great devotion to our Blessed Lord,” Deacon Stahlnecker explained.
“Even though he was busy, he would still find time every week to spend an hour before our Lord. I was very thankful to him for that.”
From 1995 until 2013, Bishop Byrne had served as pastor of Immaculate Conception parish on Staten Island, where he previously was administrator for a year, along with St. John the Baptist de La Salle, also Staten Island, which has since closed.
“Being an auxiliary bishop increases his range,” the deacon said. “He will be a very good example, especially for the younger priests, because of his own personal life. I think the Church of New York is very fortunate that he was assigned as an auxiliary bishop.”
“I really believe the Holy Spirit was behind the choice,” he said. “The Holy Spirit answered prayers in a very special way with a very special person.”
