Deacon Michael P. Forbes

Michael Patrick Forbes, an ordained deacon in the Roman Catholic Church since 2013, is a former three-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, past President and Chief Executive Officer of PR Strategies International LLC, a public relations firm, and more recently, Vice Chancellor for the Catholic Diocese of Austin.

Forbes earned a licentiate and Master of Canon Law degree from St. Paul University and the University of Ottawa (2016), and a Master of Science in Bioethics from the University of Mary (2021). He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and American History from the State University of New York at Albany. In 1999, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Long Island University.

For the past ten years, Forbes has devoted himself to ministry in the local Church. He has been a judge in the Diocese of Austin’s tribunal, and served as the bishop’s canonical counsel, Vice Chancellor, and Director of the Diaconal Ministry. Forbes and his wife, Barbara, moved from Austin, Texas, to Granger, Indiana in July 2023.