The order is comprised of nearly 15,000 friars worldwide.

Father Michael was elected on the first ballot, receiving 103 votes out of 152 by the delegates gathered in Assisi, Italy during the order’s 187th General Chapter. This is particularly special because it commemorates the 800th anniversary of the beginning of the Franciscan order in 1209.

A native of Indianapolis, Father Michael was born in 1954 and is a 1977 graduate of Quincy University in Quincy. He entered the order in 1977, professed solemn vows in 1981, and was ordained a priest in 1982. He worked for 10 years in the Democratic Republic of Congo as pastor, educator and director of development projects. He received his Ph.D. in religious anthropology at the Centre of West African Studies, University of Birmingham, UK, in 2002.

He has also worked for the U.S. Bishop’s Conference, Franciscans International, Catholic Relief Services and is a member of the Quincy University Board of Trustees. He has been serving as the moderator of the Chapter, having been elected to that post on the first day of the chapter.

A few moments after his election, Father Michael said, “I feel like I did when I was elected provincial; the same thought came to mind today as it did then:  While it is easy for me to invite others to step out into the deep, God and the brothers today are now calling me to do the same in a new way.”

A number of priests from the Province of the Sacred Heart live and serve in the Springfield diocese in Dieterich, Effingham, Litchfield, Sherman, Springfield, Teutopolis, and Quincy.