John Joseph Ryan, O.P.
Jubilarian
Birth: February 24, 1916
Profession: August 16, 1936
Ordination: May 21, 1942
Died: July 19, 1998
John Francis Ryan was born in New York City the son of William and Nora (O’Halloran) Ryan. He attended St. Paul’s Grammar School and Cathedral Boys High School before attending Providence College, Providence, RI.
He entered the novitiate of St. Joseph’s Province, St. Rose Priory, Springfield, KY (1935) receiving the religious name Joseph. He studied philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies, River Forest, IL and theology at the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, DC. He was ordained in that Priory by Eugene J. McGuinness, Bishop of Raleigh, NC.
From 1943-46 Fr. Ryan served as Secretary for the Thomist and the Studium; St. Vincent Ferrer Parish, New York City; St. Pius V Parish, Providence, RI. He ministered for two years at the province’s Chinese mission (1947-49). When the Chinese Communists took over the country, he returned to the US in 1949 and had assignments at St. Raymond’s Parish, Providence, RI; procurator of St. Stephen’s Priory, Dover, MA; St. Thomas Parish, Zanesville, OH, where he also taught at Rosecrans High School.
From 1953-74 Fr. Ryan served in the Holy Name Province: St. Dominic Parish, San Francisco; St. Dominic Parish, Los Angeles; Holy Rosary Parish, Antioch, CA; St. Vincent and St. Patrick’s High Schools, Vallejo, CA; Daniel Murphy High School, Los Angeles.
In 1974 he was assigned to St. Gertrude’s Parish, Cincinnati, OH, where he ministered until 1984. Due to failing health, he went to the Assisted Living Center, St. Dominic Priory, Washington, DC, and then to Carroll Manor Nursing Home in DC, where he died. He was buried in the Dominican plot of Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Washington, DC.