Camden’s Msgr. Doyle to retire at 85 after 46 years at Sacred Heart

Msgr. Michael J. Doyle, 85, is retiring July 15 from his post at Sacred Heart Parish in Camden after 46 years, according to the Catholic Star Herald, a publication of the Diocese of Camden.

Known as a staunch advocate for the poor, he is widely credited with saving Sacred Heart and its adjacent elementary school, which were struggling when he became pastor at the South Jersey parish in 1974.

In 1984, he founded the housing nonprofit Heart of Camden, which has renovated hundreds of homes in the city’s Waterfront South neighborhood.

Ordained in his native Ireland in 1959, Doyle came to the United States that year and served until 1961 as parochial vicar at St. Raymond Parish in Villas, Cape May County. He then worked at Camden Catholic High School and Holy Spirit High School in Absecon, after which he served in several Camden parishes before coming to Sacred Heart.

Early in his tenure, he was known for his opposition to the Vietnam War. Two years after he started at the church, he hosted Mother Teresa during her 1976 visit to Camden.

He was featured in a segment of 60 Minutes and in several documentaries, including one narrated by actor Martin Sheen.

In 2017, hundreds gathered to honor him when the block of Jasper Street alongside the church was renamed Michael Doyle Lane.