A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Michael graduated with a double major in history and philosophy from Quincy, a Franciscan university in Quincy, Illinois. He would go on to earn a Master of Divinity and Master of Arts in missiology from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. He earned the title Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Birmingham, in the United Kingdom, in Religious Anthropology, including 2 years of field research in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
As a Franciscan friar, Michael has ministered in a variety of settings as assistant pastor in Chicago, a high school French teacher, and in the field of religious and theological formation of men in Africa discerning a vocation to the Franciscan Order. Michael’s passion is to serve in the manner of Francis of Assisi, bringing forth the dignity and unique value of each person while promoting a renewed sense of human fraternity and global solidarity.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, Michael served for 10 years as a missionary building solidarity among the various local Christian communities and with Muslims. He was the director of the Franciscan theological center in Kolwezi, and professor of anthropology and religious studies. He founded and directed a research institute that examined new religious movements and their contributions to identity construction and social transformation. Upon his return to the United States, his experiences enabled him to be an excellent resource for the United States Conference of Catholics Bishops’ Department of International Justice and Peace. He also served as Africa advisor at Franciscans International at the UN in New York, and was a member of the peacebuilding team at Catholic Relief Service’s – the international arm of the United States Conference of Catholics Bishops.
His gifts and talents along with leadership abilities were recognized by his brothers who elected him in 2008 to serve as Minister Provincial of his home province Sacred Heart, in the mid-western United States. One year later, he was elected by the minister provincials of the world to serve as Vicar General of the Order of Friars Minor. In 2014, he was elected to serve as the Minister General and the 120th successor of St. Francis of Assisi, a position he held until July 2021.
As Minister General, Brother Michael saw the Order’s membership grow in certain countries in Africa, Asia and South America while also witnessing the diminishment of members, especially in Europe and North America. Brother Michael helped the Order establish greater financial accountability and transparency. During his tenure, the first woman in the history of the Catholic
Church was named Rector of a pontifical university, the Antonianum in Rome. Repeatedly, Brother Michael called the friars to be true to their identity as “lesser brothers,” committed to living as members of a “contemplative-fraternity- in-mission,” a fraternity responsible for actively promoting peace, care for the poor and excluded, and care for our common home, the planet.