1st Reading: Isaiah 25:60, 7-9
2nd Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Gospel: Luke 24:13-35
Father Robin Ryan, our first consulter, our Rector Peter, and Vice rector, Richard, my follow priests and brothers, dear friends and you John’s family, whom he always loved so dearly, I’m here to speak about Fr. John’s departure from this life and his journey to God.
Because Fr. John Chrysostom Ryan was a man of few words, we’ll have to draw meaning from his simple expressions, like “that’s good,” as showing, as Fr. Gilbert says, his positive attitude towards everything, or like “here we are” as expressing his acceptance of reality as it is, or like his “round up the usual suspects” as revealing his common sense approach to problems, as told to us by Brother Terence when John decided that having cold cuts will do rather than waiting an hour for a hot cooked meal.
We also have the simple facts of his life to draw upon. Father John Chrysostom Ryan, a Passionist Priest, was born 28 December 1920, the son of the late Henry Ryan and Jennie (Murrin) Ryan, and the Uncle of Eileen Huettl and the brother-in-Iaw-of Margaret Ryan, both of Mays Landing NJ. John through and through, as we found out last night, was a family man. He was a native of Union City and was familiar with its politics when Rector there. He graduated from St. Michael’s High School in Union City and then went to Holy Cross College Preparatory Seminary in Dunkirk, New York. In 1941 He professed his vows at St. Paul of the Cross Monastery in Pittsburgh, with his classmates, Fintan Lombard, Justinian Gilligan, Berard Tierney, Bennet Kelly, and Kevin McCluskey. Then he earned his BA and MA degrees before his ordination in 1948. John’s exemplary character must have been recognized even then for he served as vice master and then as director of students in his late twenties and early thirties.
From 1953 to 1958 he was on the Preaching Band here in Jamaica and then Assistant Retreat Director in W. Springfield. Then from 1958 to 1971 John was in administration. Vice Rector, in Brighton, Rector in Union City when Fathers Theodore, Victor, Dominic, Kenan and Mario were students there, then Provincial Consulter under Flavian Dougherty and with the other Consulters, Silvan Rouse and Cassian Yuhas and our Gerard Orlando. Then John became Rector again in Union City when Tom Joyce and I were there going to Fordham. Afterwards John alternated from being on the preaching band and in a retreat house to being Assistant Provincial Treasurer, Rector in Scranton and Pastor in Union City. Since 1990 he has been here In Jamaica, except for his stint as Provincial Treasurer in South River, from 1991 to 93.
But what does all this mean? I think we have to take a lesson from Paul the Apostle who used the Scriptures to understand the Christ who appeared to him on the way to Damascus and who used Christ to understand the Scriptures. We’ll have to do the same with Fr. John Chrysostom Ryan.
I picked the first reading from the book of Wisdom that paraphrases young King Solomon’s prayer for wisdom when he was made King. John, I believe, sought that same kind of wisdom, which in the words of Roland Murphy, sees a divine order established in every day things and gives voice to that. It is a wisdom that is used to govern the world in holiness and justice and to render judgment in integrity of heart. That’s the way John acted, rendering judgment in integrity of heart. Our Gerard Orlando said that when they were Consulters to the Provincial, John said little, but when he spoke he believed in everything he said.
When Tom Joyce and I were going to Fordham, John was Rector there. With him at the helm, things seemed to go smoothly, no fuss, no worry–though with so many rooms to house us all, students, priests and brothers alike, I’m sure there were difficulties to be resolved. One was mine. In regularly saying Mass at St. Francis Academy I had grown close to the sister sacristan there. I wondered if it were appropriate for me to continue saying Mass there and went to John, the Rector, about it. He did not assign me, but when I found out that sister was going to the Missions in Bolivia and they were having a departure ceremony, John supported my going there to celebrate Mass for this. From this I gather that John knew far more than I realized and used that wisdom to care for me and for all his men.
I picked the second reading from Romans, since it says, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also give us everything else along with him? … For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor present things, nor future things, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature will be able to separate us form the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
I think this was John’s conviction. This is what guided his approach to others. One in our community told the story that he was very upset about the way things were going in his assignment and met with John when he came as the Consulter Visitor. While this man voiced his complaints, John patiently listened to him, smoking his cigar. Nothing was changed as a result, but having said all this to John, the man was able to continue on. As someone said yesterday afternoon, John had the conviction that with God everything will work out.
I think that conviction came from John’s own experience. Like many of us, he had his own inner struggles. But unlike, unfortunately, some of us, John took positive steps to deal with those struggles, like prayer, leading a regular life all the way up to his last days here, and relying on others. While Peter pointed out last night that John kept absolute confidentiality about the men whom he was rector, consulter or pastor of and about their struggles, John confided his own secret with a trusted man in our community. That man mentioned another way John won out over his struggle. When John was assigned to go all the way into Chinatown to help out with confessions on Saturday afternoon and night and then say Masses there in Sunday morning. John would travel back home to the Monastery Saturday night, and then back to Chinatown early Sunday morning, just so he could keep to his inner resolution. For John, it was: if we do our little part, God will do his big part. And that’s what happened.
I picked the last reading about the Good Samaritan, which is not in the readings for the funeral Mass but is one of our Sunday Readings. I see John like that good “Samaritan traveler who came upon the man who was robbed and left half dead. The Samaritan approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds, and bandaged them. Then he took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction. Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you… I shall repay you on my way back”
That’s the way John was. Whether he was Rector or member of the community, Indian chief or Indian, John meant to serve others, just as he meant to serve God and he knew how to involve others in doing so.
He did so with the utmost compassion, as those who made him their regular confessor know.
Like the Samaritan, John saw no one as a foreigner, only as one in need. When Asterio Velasco, who is a permanent deacon at St. Michael’s-St. Joseph’s came here to get help from John in writing the history of the Passionists at these two parishes, Asterio wanted to thank John for being so open to the Hispanics in the parish. In reply John had said, I did not realize there were Hispanics in the parish, they were all members of the parish, all the same to me.
Like the Samaritan, John also had courage. Asterio recounts the time when he was vice president of the parish council and attended its meetings with John. They were, as Asterio put it, very aggressive not cordial meetings. Yet John would sit there and say, “OK, tell me everything you want.” He was not afraid to be open. It was the custom in the parish that those in Veronica’s Veil would use it to raise money for the parish and then have a party for its members when the performances were over. But the Parish was loosing money in this venture. So when the members of Veronica’s Veil told John what they were going to do with the money and what they were giving to the parish, John gave his reply. In his ever calm and gentle manner, he pointed out to them that there was not enough money from Veronica’s Veil to cover the insurance for it, and so he would need to have the money for that. Then, breaking their long-standing custom of having a party, John added, ” And I would like to use some of the money to have a party for all those who serve the parish, including yourselves.”
Wise leader, beloved by God and saved by Christ, compassionate listener and Good Samaritan, these were the things that John learned from the Scriptures and taught us. As Asterio Velasco put it, “These supernatural qualities we attribute to the saints, but John with his chewing on a cigar made what was supernatural earthly and natural.”
Thank you Fr. John Chrysostom Ryan, we will try to learn from you and the Scriptures you lived.
- Fr. Jerome Bracken, C.P.
