SPRINGFIELD – Installation Mass for the Right Reverend. William D. Byrne as the 10th Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield at St. Michael’s Cathedral on Monday, December 14, is by invitation only, but the event can be viewed online or on television.

WWLP 22 Springfield News will broadcast the mass from the cathedral at 2 p.m. and it will also be broadcast live on the diocesan website, diospringfield.org

Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Archdiocese of Boston is expected to be the main celebrant.

A 5:30 p.m. prayer service scheduled for Sunday, December 13 will also be webcast live on the Diocese’s website, as both events follow Commonwealth instructions. COVID-19 safety rules in addition to capacity limits.

Special coverage around Byrne’s Rise is also planned for the December 12 and 19 editions of “Real to Reel”, the diocesan news magazine which airs Saturday at 7 pm on WWLP.

The appointment by Pope Francis de Byrne, a 56-year-old pastor from the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, as Bishop of Springfield was announced on October 14, approximately six weeks after the installation of former Bishop Mitchell T. Rozanski as Archbishop of Saint-Louis.

Byrne, as a newly ordained priest, was first assigned to the Church of the Little Flower and the Sanctuary of St. Jude in Bethesda, Maryland.

For eight years he was chaplain at the University of Maryland.

He was appointed pastor of St. Peter’s on Capitol Hill, where he created a special ministry for Catholic members of Congress.

During this same time, Byrne also served as secretary for pastoral ministry and social concerns for the Archdiocese of Washington for 6.5 years.

Most recently, he was pastor of Our Lady of Mercy parish in Potomac, Maryland.

Byrne is also a columnist and YouTube personality, with his series “Five Things” which highlights “life tips, initiations to prayer or spiritual meditations to help people draw closer to God and appreciate the small – but vital – things in life.” A book based on the series “Five Things with Fr. Bill” was recently published by Loyola Press.

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