[1] Boyce was born in Derry, Northern Ireland, and grew up in Downings, a village on the Rosguill Peninsula in the north of County Donegal.

In August 2011, after the release of the report on the sexual abuse scandal in Cloyne diocese, Bishop Boyce said that the Church was experiencing a testing time, having been rocked by a "secular and godless culture" on the outside and the "sins and crimes of priests" within.

Boyce, who promised to publish a report into clerical abuse in his diocese, urged Catholics not to lose confidence in their faith and to act with hope and patience during the current difficult times for the church.

"Attacked from the outside by the arrows of a secular and godless culture, rocked from the inside by the sins and crimes of priests and consecrated people, we all feel the temptation to lose confidence.

Boyce said he fully accepted the recommendations contained in the review, which was undertaken by the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church.

[5][6][7] On 15 April 2019, Pope Francis appointed Eamon Martin, Primate of All Ireland and Archbishop of Armagh, as Apostolic Administrator of Dromore, replacing Bishop Boyce.