J. Michael Byron was a young business professional working for a bank and climbing the corporate ladder when he met Father Tim Wozniak in 1982 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis. He asked to meet with Father Wozniak, and that conversation was part of a journey that led Byron to the priesthood.

He was ordained in 1989, and the two priests forged a lifelong friendship that lasted four decades. Father Byron, 62, unexpectedly died of an infection May 20.

Father Wozniak will be the homilist at his Mass of Christian Burial 11 a.m. June 2 at Pax Christi in Eden Prairie, where Father Byron had served as pastor since 2018. There will also be a visitation 4-7 p.m. June 1 at Pax Christi, with a vigil service at 6:45 p.m., and visitation 9-10:45 a.m. prior to the June 2 funeral Mass.

Father Wozniak is among several priests who were longtime friends of Father Byron, who grew up in Edina and was on his way to a successful banking career before hearing the call to a priestly vocation in the early 1980s.

Father Byron was a cantor at the Basilica at that time, said Father Wozniak, 73, pastor of St. Thomas Becket in Eagan.

“I got to know Mike, and Mike said to me one day, ‘Would you mind going out and having some pizza?’” Father Wozniak recalled, noting that the young cantor was using the invitation in order to initiate a conversation about the priesthood. “And, I said, ‘Sure.’ We went down the street to the Green Mill on Hennepin (Avenue).”

The conversations continued, and Father Wozniak encouraged him in his desire to go to the seminary and pursue a priestly vocation. They stayed connected after Father Byron was ordained, as Father Wozniak invited him to join a group of 12 priests who met monthly for dinner and socializing. Priests took turns hosting and getting the necessary ingredients for the menu, and the group then prepared the meal together, a practice that continues today.

Father Byron did not have a favorite dish, and in fact was known for buying food at a restaurant when it was his turn to host, Father Wozniak said with a chuckle.

He brought other important things to the dinner, too, including wisdom for any priest who was struggling, plus a listening ear. That’s why he will be both missed and celebrated by the other priests at future dinners.

“Our dinner group is going to meet in June,” Father Wozniak said, “and we’re each going to take a glass of white wine and toast Michael because that was Michael’s beverage of choice.”

In addition to the Sunday dinner group, Father Byron also was part of a smaller group of priests who formed a support group at about the same time as the dinner group formed. Father Bill Murtaugh, one of the priests in the support group, likewise met Father Byron while at the Basilica. Father Murtaugh began ministering there in 1984, after Father Wozniak had left.

“I think Mike tried to support each guy to the best of his ability … be it anger, frustration, sadness or loneliness,” said Father Murtaugh, 77. “We go through those (emotions) as priests.”

Father Murtaugh got to serve alongside Father Byron when the two shared an assignment at Pax Christi for one year. Father Murtaugh had been serving there as pastor and asked for help in 2018 for the suburban parish of 3,200 households. Father Byron arrived in 2018 to serve as pastor, and Father Murtaugh was glad to help out his longtime friend.

“I loved Pax Christi,” said Father Murtaugh, who ministered there for 10 years. “And, I wanted Mike to love it, too — and the people.”

Father Murtaugh especially loved Father Byron’s humor. He was known for making funny, sarcastic remarks that could make people laugh and put them at ease.

Sometimes, that humor was directed at his fellow priests. One of his ordination classmates, Father John Ubel, rector of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, witnessed it firsthand on many occasions. In fact, some of Father Byron’s witticisms are recorded in a 93-page book that a friend published documenting the treks the two priests made throughout the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis beginning not long after their ordination and continuing until about four years ago. They came up with the idea of visiting every parish in the archdiocese so they could better learn about the local Church.

Father Ubel would drive, and Father Byron would take copious notes. Then, he would type them out and send them to Father Ubel a week later. The writings detailed far more than just the day’s itinerary. They contained observations about Father Ubel’s behavior during excursions covering up to 198 miles in a single day and including as many as 15 churches. Father Byron’s footnote in an entry about a trip on June 20, 2005, read: “the tractor operating nearby was sufficiently productive of dust to warrant JLU’s (Father Ubel’s) fretting over his clean car.”

“The thing is, he was 100% right,” Father Ubel said of Father Byron’s assessment. “It was a new car, a few months old, and I had gotten it washed (before the trip).”

The two made about 25 trips around the archdiocese, and managed to visit every church, once discovering a church neither were aware of because it had closed in 1962. They often went on Mondays, their typical day off. Thus, they did not wear their clerical clothing, instead donning what Father Ubel called their “civies.” They tried to avoid being detected by the pastor or parish staff, slipping into a church and taking a quick look around before quietly exiting and heading to the next one.

Once, they visited a rural parish and discovered that the church was locked. So, they climbed in through a window.

“I’ve got very good memories of these trips with him,” Father Ubel said. “I’m going to miss them tremendously. It’s hard to lose a classmate, and it reminds me of the fragility of life, but also that we move on and we continue to live in hope.”

Another longtime priest and friend, Father John Bauer, rector of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, said the archdiocese “has lost one of the really shining lights. He was very intelligent, but also enormously pastoral, kind and caring.”

Despite the loss, Father Byron’s impact will be long lasting, these priests noted. Father Wozniak said the way Father Byron related to his congregations over the years embodies what Pope Francis often says when describing the relationship pastors should have with their parishioners: smelling like the sheep.

“He was a pastor of the people and for the people,” Father Wozniak said. “He was really with the people and knew the people and he … connected to their life.”