Shelby Township — To find the ultimate success in life, it’s necessary to listen to God’s Word to provide us with wisdom about our everyday, practical living, says Detroit Auxiliary Bishop Michael Byrnes.
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“God’s Word provides that kind of that instruction,” he says. “It’s the way that leads to fulfillment.”
“Biblical Principles for Leadership in the Family and at Work” is the title of a talk to be led by Bishop Byrnes, Thursday, July 7 at the Radisson Hotel in Bloomfield Hills. A goal of the talks, a series sponsored by the Ave Maria University Greater Detroit Founders Club, is to raise awareness of the Catholic life and to catechize.
Tom Monaghan, chancellor of Ave Maria University, says “We are very grateful to Bishop Byrnes for agreeing to speak to our local Greater Detroit Club. Lay leadership in the Church is so important because the ordained clergy can only do so much.
“It is my hope that the attendees will walk away both inspired to take a more active role in leadership and be equipped with some practical ways to do this.”
Since Bishop Byrnes’ ordination as auxiliary bishop in May, he has been busy in the Northeast Region of the archdiocese where he serves.
Within a couple weeks of his ordination, he had five confirmations to celebrate.
“It was great. It helped me attack the learning curve,” he recalls with a laugh. “But I prefer that anyway. By God’s providence, it helped.”
Because Bishop Byrnes meditates regularly on the Psalms, he said he thought it would make a good topic to help others consider as well.
As the former vice rector at Sacred Heart Major Seminary, he says “it helped young men who were starting to think about leadership and gave them real experience through Scripture.”
Bishop Byrnes admits it is not always easy to be a leader using Biblical principles in both work and home — and that an important part of one’s life is to make moral excellence a priority. “Right now, the first point is to celebrate virtue in addition to competence,” he says. “We live in a society that celebrates accomplishment and achievement more than virtue.
“Achievement is good to celebrate, but virtue is good to celebrate, too! In Psalms, it says it right there at the beginning and that is the main thrust of the talk.”
He notes that living out our virtues applies to every day life.
“In Psalms, it says on the lips of King David that he’s contemplating about the people he leads and who he wants to have close to him,” the bishop says. “This speaks to the kingdom of our soul.
“Each of us is called as a priest, prophet and king because the first place we rule is our own soul,” he says. “Celebrating virtue starts with us.”
