Bishop Boyle

The former bishop of the Jamaican diocese of Mandeville has passed away.

Bishop Paul M Boyle died January 10 of complication following surgery in the Louisville, Kentucky, hospital.

His funeral Mass was held Wednesday morning (January 16) at St Catherine church, Detroit, Michigan.

In 1991, Pope John Paul II made him the first bishop of the newly formed Apostolic Vicariate of Mandeville.

As a member of the Antilles Episcopal Conference, Bishop Boyle participated in Synods of Bishops representing the Region. He brought to the Conference his expertise in Canon Law and encouraged the formation of the Canon Law Society of the Antilles.

His accomplishments were many in the newly formed diocese of Mandeville: he founded parishes, built clinics, began a Catholic college, established a diaconate programme and a constituted a diocesan clergy.

He brought into the newly-formed diocese religious of many institutes and finally founded the Mission Society of Mandeville, a diocesan society of apostolic life imbued with Passionist spirituality.

Bishop Boyle retired in 2004 to the Passionist Community in Louisville, Kentucky. Since his retirement, he was active with preaching appeals for Food for the Poor, sacramental ministry, and other preaching engagements for the diocese of Mandeville and its institutions.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 28, 1926, he made his vows as a Passionist of the Western Province in 1946.

Ordained a Passionist priest in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 30, 1953 and sent to Rome for graduate studies in canon law, he received a licentiate in Sacred Theology from St. Thomas University in 1955 and a licentiate in Canon Law from the Pontifical Lateran University in 1957.

He also attended Northwestern University in Evansville, Illinois, St. John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota, St. Regis College in Toronto, and St. Paul College in Detroit.

In 1964-1965 Boyle served as the president of the Canon Law Society of America and from 1965 to 1968 as its executive coordinator. He taught canon law and homiletics at Sacred Heart Seminary in Louisville and canon law at St. Meinrad Theological Seminary from 1965 to 1968.

In 1969 Boyle became president of the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, a position he held until 1974. From 1974 to 1976 he served as president of Stewardship Services Inc., an organisation established by the CMSM to give financial assistance to religious communities.

During these years he began working on another project to help religious communities with financial management. In 1976 he founded and became the president of Religious Communities Trust (RCT) set up to instruct religious organisations on short-term investments.

In May of 1968, Boyle was elected Provincial of the Holy Cross Province of the Passionists (Chicago); from 1976 until 1988 he served as Superior General of the Congregation.