Biography of Bishop Michael F. Burbidge

The Most Reverend Michael F. Burbidge is a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He attended St. Charles Borromeo Seminary and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1984.

Bishop Burbidge holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a master's degree in theology from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, a master's in education administration from Villanova University, and a doctorate in education from Immaculata College.

In addition to parish and school priestly assignments, he served as administrative secretary to the Archbishop of Philadelphia from 1992-1999. In 1998, he was named Honorary Prelate to His Holiness Pope John Paul II with the title of Monsignor. In 1999, then Monsignor Burbidge was appointed rector of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. In 2002, he was ordained an auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia.

On June 8, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Burbidge the fifth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Raleigh. On October 4, 2016, he was announced by Pope Francis as the fourth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington and was installed on December 6, 2016, at the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More.

Bishop Burbidge is a member of several Boards of Trustees, including The Catholic University of America, Mount St. Mary's Seminary, the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Catholic Distance University, and the Commissariat of the Holy Land.

Bishop Burbidge has held a number of leadership positions at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and previously served as Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Clergy, Consecrated Life and Vocations and the Committee for Communications, and currently as Chairman of the Committee on Pro-Life Activities.

In recent years, Bishop Burbidge has published pastoral letters titled, “In Tongues All Can Hear: Communicating the Hope of Christ in Times of Trial” and “A Catechesis on the Human Person and Gender Ideology.”