Msgr. Byrnes, a Catholic convert, loved the Eucharist

   
    Msgr. Donald M. Byrnes, a convert to Catholicism, was so in love with the Eucharist and committed to communion with Christ that it transformed his entire life, Father Robert Cavalier said Feb. 20 at Father Byrnes’ funeral Mass at St. Jerome Church in Kenner.
    Msgr. Byrnes, 90, died Feb. 14 at Chateau de Notre Dame  Nursing Home. He had been a priest for 57 years.
    Msgr. Byrnes chose for his Gospel reading a passage from Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse, in which he states, “Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
    “This text is most challenging, and if there is anything in his life Father Don was ready for, it was a good challenge,” said Father Cavalier, pastor of St. Ann Parish in Metairie. “As Jesus speaks of himself in a very strange way, a good number of his disciples were shaken by this graphic invitation to eat the Lord’s flesh and to drink his blood.
    “This amazing intimacy and humility of the savior, for some, is too much. So it is a process for all of us to have a gradual, deepening appreciation for how profound a mystery it is that we share when we gather in this way.”
    Msgr. Byrnes, a native of Seattle, entered Notre Dame Seminary in 1950, six months after entering the Catholic Church as a student at LSU.
    Msgr. Byrnes studied the faith under then-Father William Borders, who later became archbishop of Baltimore, at the LSU Newman Center.
    “He would always talk in glowing terms about the time he spent learning the faith from this great teacher of the faith,” Father Cavalier said. “The Eucharist really is the force, the source, the summit of our life of faith.”
    Msgr. Byrnes was ordained on June 4, 1955, by Archbishop Joseph Rummel. After serving for many years as an associate pastor, he was named the founding pastor of San Pedro Pescador Parish in Florissant and also served as pastor of St. Jerome; St. Monica and St. Francis de Sales in New Orleans; and St. Bernard. He also was co-pastor of St. Charles Borromeo in Destrehan.
    He retired as pastor of St. Bernard and San Pedro Pescador in 1997 and in his retirement served as temporary administrator at St. Jerome.
    Msgr. Byrnes was heavily involved in the Cursillo movement and, along with Father Cavalier, was a member of the Jesus Caritas fraternity of priests.
    Father Cavalier said they challenged each other to make regular half-day “desert” retreat experiences as “ a special time of prayerful solitude to go deeper into life and communion with God … for the sake of a more generous ministry.”
    “Our inner life indeed does overflow and touch many people over the years,” Father Cavalier said.
    In his final visit with Msgr. Byrnes a few weeks ago, Father Cavalier thought he heard him say, “We won! We won!”
    “I finally figured out he was saying that ‘we are one,’” Father Cavalier said. “He was eucharistic to the end. Communion and togetherness – this is God’s plan for our lives.”
    Msgr. Byrnes was buried at St. Bernard Cemetery in St. Bernard.
    He is survived by his nephew, Roger Heidelberg, his niece, Lois Brigante, and numerous  other great nieces and nephews.
    Peter Finney Jr. can be reached at pfinney@clarionherald.org.