HAGATNAM (AP) — Guam is preparing a series of events in late November to welcome the man who could become its next archbishop.
Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes will arrive from Detroit on Nov. 28 and be welcomed by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai and other clergy members, the Archdiocese of Agana told The Pacific Daily News.
Hon was sent to Guam in June to temporarily replace current Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron on an administrative basis.
Apuron, 71, has been Guam’s highest Catholic leader for 30 years but faces a trial in Rome over multiple allegations of sex abuse of altar boys in the 1970s.
Byrnes, 58, will have the right to succeed Apuron if he resigns, retires or is removed. Byrnes was auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Detroit before Pope Francis appointed him to the Guam post.
Byrnes will spend his first day on the island with Hon and the clergy in a day of recollection and private Mass at the Saint Therese Chapel at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna. The archdiocese said he will also meet with local religious men’s and women’s groups.
Island residents will have the opportunity to see and hear Byrnes during the Nov. 30 evening Mass at the cathedral-basilica.
Byrnes will also meet with representatives of all parishes, Catholic schools, Catholic institutions, and other lay ministries.