Featured Stories | July 02, 2026
Remembering Fr. Byron Haaland: retreat director, formator, novice master, DEHONIAN
Fr. Byron Haaland, SCJ, died on July 2, 2026. He was 77 and had been hospitalized for the past several months for cancer treatment. Originally from California, Fr. Byron professed first vows with the Priests of the Sacred Heart in 1970 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1977.
Outside of an early parish assignment in St. Louis, most of Fr. Byron’s years of religious life were spent as a formation director and in retreat ministry.
“I led my first retreat when I was a deacon at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in St. Louis,” he said. “The principal asked if I would give a graduation retreat.” That initial retreat was the start of a lifetime vocation.
For many years Fr. Byron’s ministry was based at St. Joseph’s Retreat Center in Baileys Harbor, WI. He developed and directed retreats held at the center, but also traveled the country –– and occasionally outside of it –– giving retreats for a wide variety of groups and organizations.
In the 1980s and 1990s Fr. Byron served on the Wisconsin State Board for Adult Children of Alcoholics. “We focused on getting information to teachers, administrators, counselors and parents to help them understand how alcohol and drugs affect children.”
Out of that experience came a retreat series that Fr. Byron developed for adult children of alcoholics. He spent eight years presenting the retreat around the country, including at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology, where it was done as a part of the continuing education program.
He also presented retreats to participants in Alcoholics Anonymous. “There are many similarities in 12-step programs and SCJ spirituality,” he said. “I think that SCJ spirituality kind of ‘catapults’ you into a poverty of spirit that helps you to see your powerlessness.” And from that sense of “powerlessness,” said Fr. Byron, one realizes that it is only through God that “we can do anything.”
Outside of his retreat ministry, Fr. Byron worked with the formation department at SHSST, was SHSST Director of Mission, and for many years was active with St. Ann Center for Intergenerational Care in Milwaukee.
His last full-time assignment was as novice master for the US Province.
Reflecting on his own vocation, Fr. Byron wrote that “As a follower of Christ, I try to serve people where they need to be served, honoring and embracing their story no matter who they are and no matter where they come from. People are to be accepted, honored and affirmed.
“That is the spirituality of the SCJs, and that is my spirituality. You can’t get any better than that.”
Funeral arrangements:
Funeral arrangements will be in the main chapel at Sacred Heart Seminary and School of Theology on Thursday, July 9.
Reception of the Body and the Vigil will be at 9:30 a.m.
The Mass of Christian Burial will be at 10:30 a.m.
Interment will follow in the community mausoleum.
Fr. Byron with members of the formation community and Fr. Ed Kilianski, provincial superior at the time (now deceased).
A convert to Catholicism
Fr. Byron Haaland was a convert to Catholicism. Several years ago he shared his story of conversion and how it was intertwined with his vocation the priesthood and religious life. The following reflection appeared on the US Province website:
I became Roman Catholic in my senior year of high school. It was the mid-1960s and everything had to be radical. So, what could a good Norwegian Lutheran do to be radical? I became a Catholic. A CATHOLIC! Conversion to such a belief left a lot of relatives and friends bewildered. I couldn’t become a hippy. Such a thing was just too unthinkable in my family – it was forbidden.
I’m not sure which vocation came first. I think priesthood came first and the rest were just hurdles to be jumped along the way. The young priest who walked with me during those days was equally bewildered by what I was searching for in my youth. But he was faithful to giving me instruction along the way.
I was so new to the faith that I didn’t know the difference between religious and secular priests. I was told to wait three years by the bishop of San Diego. I was to stay in touch and attend vocation sessions at the seminary. However, one Sunday after Mass I found an SCJ vocation flyer in the back of church. It was sort of like an Uncle Sam poster: “The Sacred Heart Wants You!” I had no idea what it was about, but I filled it out and sent it to Trinity College in Redlands, CA. [The SCJs had a community there at the time.] A week later I got an invitation to come and visit. I went along with the young priest from my parish.
My interview took 20 minutes, but the priest and Fr. Dick Johnston [SCJ vocation director] visited for an hour or so after. I entered formation that August. I still had to wait three years but at least I was a candidate, and my vocation was on its way.
There’s not much difference between conversion and formation. Both are serious and ongoing. Both turn your heart to God, and both involve struggle and determination.
There has been a lot of water under the bridge since that first contact with the SCJs. My vocation has been marked by construction, demolition and rebuilding. Fires and floods have also marked my way. It all adds up to literally building the Kingdom.
When our novitiate was being remodeled it seemed to take forever. Waiting for completion can be a chore and I got to thinking that living under construction is a lot like formation. I watch. I wait. I get impatient. I get excited and I dream. I imagine how things will be when it’s finished.
It’s never what I expect but I’m always pleased. And it’s a lot of hard work. There is seldom a dull moment. I wake up filled with energy to begin a new day. What is most important is that I show up and participate in God’s work of redemption.
