Earl Boyea

Earl Boyea was born in Pontiac, Michigan, the eldest of the ten children of Earl and Helen Boyea. He was raised in Waterford and attended church and school at Our Lady of the Lakes[1] as a child. He studied at Sacred Heart Seminary High School from 1965 to 1973, obtaining his bachelor's degree in history, then he traveled to Rome, where he studied at the Pontifical North American College and Pontifical Gregorian University (1973–77), earning his bachelor's degree in sacred theology from the latter in 1976.

He was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Joseph Imesch on May 20, 1978, while serving as a deacon at St. Benedict Church in Pontiac. Boyea then served as associate pastor of St. Michael the Archangel Parish in Monroe until 1979, and returned to the Gregorian in Rome, from where he obtained his Licentiate in Sacred Theology in 1980, with a thesis, Christology in Galatians.

Upon his return to the United States, Boyea was associate pastor of St. Timothy Parish in Trenton, Michigan until 1984, whence he earned his master's in American history from Wayne State University, with a thesis entitled: "John Samuel Foley, Third Bishop of Detroit: His Ecclesiastical Conflicts in the Diocese of Detroit, 1888–1900".

In 1986, he was named Temporary Administrator of St. Christine Parish in Detroit. Boyea obtained his PhD in Church history from the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. in 1987, and served as a weekend assistant at St. Joseph Parish in Lake Orion, Michigan (1987–88), Holy Family Parish in Novi, Michigan (1988–90), and Sacred Heart Parish in Auburn Hills, Michigan (1990–99). From 1988 to 1999, he was also the chaplain of Camp Sancta Maria, a Catholic boys' summer camp in Gaylord, Michigan.

He sat on the Archdiocesan Presbyteral Council (1990-91), and on the Academic Concerns Committee of Madonna University's Board of Trustees (1994-2000). From 1987 to 2000, he taught Church history and scripture at Sacred Heart Major Seminary (Detroit), of which he became Dean of Studies in 1990. He was elevated to the rank of Monsignor on January 18, 2000. He was a weekend assistant at St. Mary Paris in German Village, Ohio (2001–02) while concurrently serving as the Rector-President and a professor at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus.

A prolific author, he was editor of the North Central Association Self-Study Report in 1994, of the United States Catholic Conference Self-Study Report in 1995, of the Association of Theological Schools Self-Study Report in 1996, and of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Seminary Visitation Report in 1998.

• Diocese of Lansing
• Reiz, Rose Mary (March 04, 2008) Bishop Earl Boyea coming at pivotal time for Catholic Diocese of Lansing The Flint Journal.