Lansing's new Bishop Earl Boyea

, May 1, 2008 / 04:33 am (CNA).- Bishop Earl Boyea was installed as bishop of the Diocese of Lansing on Tuesday in a Mass attended by the papal nuncio, a cardinal, 24 bishops, and more than 100 priests.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot newspaper relates that Bishop Boyea paid tribute to his fellow priests in Detroit, where he was formerly an auxiliary bishop and before that a priest. He told the congregation that because of his close friendships in Detroit, his new position “leaves me feeling a bit bereft.  We are bound to one another.”

Turning to his new flock, Bishop Boyea said, “Now I will have new brothers. Count on me as your brother and father in life.”

The new Bishop of Lansing addressed his retiring predecessor, Bishop Carl F. Mengeling.  “A special thanks for 12 years. You will always be in our hearts,” he said, after which those in attendance gave a standing ovation.

Bishop Boyea continued, “I told Bishop Mengeling that he exercised such a grace-filled ministry that I should be able to coast for five years.”

After the Mass, Bishop Boyea told the local media that the greatest present crisis for the Catholic Church and religion in general is “the secular culture that thinks nothing beyond this world.”

“Their life is centered on iPods, and it's a problem all over the world,” he said.

Bishop Boyea was born in Pontiac, Michigan in 1951, the eldest of ten children.  He received two degrees from the Gregorian in Rome, and earned a master’s degree in American History at Wayne State University.  He also earned a doctorate in Church History at the Catholic University of America. 

He is now the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Lansing.

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