NORTHFIELD — Thomas Aquinas College’s New England campus received a visit from its newly appointed bishop, the Most Rev. William D. Byrne, last week.
Byrne arrived on the Northfield campus on Friday, March 5, for a morning meeting with college officials. He then offered the midday Mass in Our Mother of Perpetual Help Chapel, which is still under construction, during which he blessed the Stations of the Cross and a recently acquired statue of St. Joseph. According to a press release from Thomas Aquinas College, Byrne later joined students for lunch in the Gould Commons.
“A word of thanks to Dean (Thomas) Kaiser and to Fr. (Greg) Markey for inviting me to be here … and for the privilege of being able to bless St. Joseph in this, his year, and the Stations of the Cross,” Byrne remarked at the end of his homily. “I look forward to being here with you many times.”
As a catholic institution, Thomas Aquinas College Director of Communications Chris Weinkopf said the school very much values its relationship with the bishop, and operates under his leadership. In 2019, Byrne’s predecessor, Archbishop Mitchell Rozanski, presided over the first convocation ceremony for the college’s New England campus. (The flagship campus is in Santa Paula, Calif.)
After Rozanski was transferred to St. Louis, Pope Francis appointed Byrne, formerly a priest in the Archdiocese of Washington, to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield in October. Two months later, Byrne was installed as the diocese’ 10th bishop.
“We feel very blessed to have him as our bishop,” Kaiser said of Byrne. “We prayed hard before a bishop was appointed, and I don’t think we could have gotten anyone better.”
Zack DeLuca can be reached at zdeluca@recorder.com or 413-930-4579.