Father Patrick Kennedy retired from active ministry in 2019. He moved to the Leo C. Byrne Residence for retired priests in St. Paul in 2020.
He didn’t like what he saw.
“A kind way to put it is it was dilapidated,” said Father Kennedy, 74. “I think the window bays were probably the most disturbing. They had had a lot of water damage over the years.”
Early in 2021, Father Kennedy brought his concerns to Father Michael Tix, now a vicar general for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Father Kennedy told Father Tix: “This place is in deep trouble.”
The two priests decided it was time to act. The result is $6.5 million worth of renovations made possible by a fundraising campaign that featured several large donations and many smaller ones. Some of those donors attended a Mass June 17 in the newly renovated chapel, in which Archbishop Bernard Hebda lauded both the upgrades and those who helped finance them.
That the campaign raised the necessary funds for the project, paving the way for the work to be done in 2023 and 2024, was both a powerful statement about how Catholics love their priests and an inspiring affirmation to the residents who have served the Church for decades. The project is now in its next phase: raising money for future repairs.
“I think it’s a miracle,” said Father Kennedy, the on-site leader of the project, who worked with crew members of McGough Construction of North St. Paul to carry out the renovation plan. “There’s a deep appreciation for priests and the service that they have rendered.”
In the early stages of the project, which Archbishop Hebda enthusiastically endorsed, leaders of the effort asked Bill Lentsch, chief operating officer of the archdiocese, to spearhead the fundraising. Lentsch, who served as an executive for Delta Air Lines before joining the archdiocese, gladly accepted the role.
“When I started in October of ‘21, I honestly didn’t even know that the archdiocese owned the Byrne Residence,” Lentsch said. “Father Kennedy reached out to me (in 2022) and shared with me that there were some needs at the Byrne Residence: The building was in disrepair, the roof was leaking, there were windows that were leaking, there was mold in a number of the units, the HVAC system was unreliable, the lighting was outdated, the elevator was unreliable.”
Father Kennedy began working with McGough Construction –– which has done numerous projects in the archdiocese over decades –– and came up with an estimate of $6.5 million to complete all the necessary repairs. A Catholic couple, Patrick and Michelle Fox of St. Olaf in Minneapolis, started the fundraising process and raised about $1 million before reaching a plateau, Lentsch said.
In April 2022, Lentsch sat down with the Foxes and a few others to figure out how to “breathe some (more) life into the fundraising,” he said. They decided to ask priests to bring the fundraising need to every parish in the archdiocese right after Easter of that year. As the message spread, money started coming in from the parishes.
Then, the campaign took a huge step forward when a longtime priest friend of Lentsch’s made a strong pitch during a homily. Someone in the pews heard the message and talked with Lentsch the very next day. He wanted to get involved financially.
Turns out, this gentleman had a friend he also wanted to involve. The two of them met with Lentsch and Father Kennedy. That conversation led to discussing the idea of creating a charitable trust that would cover the project’s cost and provide funding for all future needs of the Byrne Residence.
“We did this in a 90-minute conversation,” said Lentsch, noting that the two donors asked to remain anonymous. “We started talking about ways to raise money around this and what would be the most effective. We thought the best way to do it was to create a perpetual, irrevocable, charitable trust.”
There was one key caveat: Doing so would take ownership of the Byrne Residence out of the hands of the archdiocese and transfer it to the trust and its trustees. Lentsch took the proposal to Archbishop Hebda.
“His view about this was, ‘It’s not building ownership that I’m interested in; I’m just interested in making sure that my brother priests are well cared for in their retirement,’” Lentsch said.
With approval secured from both the archbishop and the Archdiocesan Corporate Board and Finance Committee, the Leo C. Byrne Residence Trust was created, with stewardship support from the Catholic Community Foundation in St. Paul. The two donors raised enough money — much of it their own — to cover the remaining $5.5 million for the project, plus a good chunk for an ongoing, dedicated maintenance fund. Lentsch said the goal is to put several million dollars into the fund so that the facility, which was built in 1995 and sits next door to The St. Paul Seminary, never falls into disrepair again.
For Lentsch, it is only fitting to provide a much-needed update of a building that 24 retired priests currently call home (there are 29 apartments available for priests).
“I am so pleased to see that these retired priests, who have given so selflessly for so many years, have a safe, comfortable place to call home in their retirement,” he said.
Lentsch recalled his own experiences of being served by priests and highlighted Father Bob White, who was at St. Mark in St. Paul while Lentsch was growing up in the parish. Father White now is the pastor of St. Victoria in Victoria.
“He was an associate at St. Mark’s,” Lentsch said. “I knew Father Bob back then quite well. He supported all of the athletics, and he was at nearly every one of my basketball games, every one of my football games, every one of my baseball games. He was like that.”
Lentsch, and many others, it turns out, don’t want priests who have served the archdiocese faithfully for years to be forgotten. They are putting their dollars into this campaign to make that simple point. Those donations have warmed the heart of Archbishop Hebda, who likewise carries a concern for retired priests.
“I was overwhelmed by the generosity of our lay faithful in supporting this project,” he said, “and am delighted that a number of individuals have stepped forward to make sure that the Byrne Residence will be maintained and cared for in the years to come.”
This commitment is why priests like Father Bob Hart, who retired in 2018 and has lived at the Byrne Residence since then, can enjoy nice accommodations and step outside to beautiful landscaping — another donation made when a contractor did the work at reduced cost — and then take a stroll along Mississippi River Boulevard, along which the Byrne Residence sits.
He said he has taken note of the improvements, including the exterior brick that has been given a deep cleaning, and he particularly appreciates the heartfelt generosity of the many people who have contributed to the campaign.
“It’s humbling to have that kind of support,” said Father Hart, 75, who was ordained in 2000 and recently accepted the role of parochial administrator at Annunciation in south Minneapolis. “I think it proves that the people love their priests, and they want to see them taken care of as they get older.”
Father Kennedy, who stepped forward to draw attention to the need for renovations, is deeply moved by the results.
“I’m overwhelmed (by) how it all turned out,” he said. “It was the work of many people and every one of us did our part.”
For more information on the Byrne residence and to donate, visit archspm.org/leo-c-byrne-residence.
