Jack Michael Ryan

It is with great sadness that the family of Father Jack Ryan announces his passing on Monday, December 7, 2020 at Queen’s Medical Center in Honolulu where he once served as a chaplain. Father Jack was a former Paulist priest engaged in communications and Hispanic ministry who joined the Diocese of Honolulu in 1991, he was 70 years old and ordained for 44 years.

Father Jack was born on January 15, 1950 in Philadelphia where he grew up in the West Oak Lane section of the city. Father Jack was a proud graduate of Cardinal Dougherty High School, class of 1967. While at Dougherty, Jack participated in the marching band. The CDHS marching band performed for Pope Paul VI at the Vatican, Princess Grace of Monaco, a Philadelphia native, and won the “World Music Championship” in the Netherlands in 1966 as part of their “Marching Through Europe” tour.

Father Ryan spent his priesthood exploring the link between faith and culture. Besides serving as pastor in several Hawaii parishes, he was involved in ecumenical affairs, campus ministry, Hispanic ministry, Catholic radio and TV and other pursuits.

A priest with an impish sense of humor, one could always count on him for a fresh joke or a wry observation about current events.

Vicar general Msgr. Gary Secor said Father Ryan blessed the diocese with his many talents and interests.

“He did a lot of things in his priesthood. He had many talents and sensitivities that were certainly beneficial to our diocese,” he said.

“The time he spent with us was very appreciated,” he said.

He received a political science degree from George Washington University after entering the seminary. He was ordained a Paulist priest on May 15, 1976.

Father Ryan served in hospital ministry in Toronto and in inner-city Memphis before earning his master’s in Latin American studies from Georgetown University. He was fluent in Spanish, Portuguese and Italian. Father Jack lived in Ecuador and Nicaragua while studying for his degree. He also holds a master’s in Divinity from the Washington Theological Union.

He worked with Hispanic communities in Toronto, Memphis and Washington, D.C. For five years he was the director of Hispanic ministry for the Archdiocese of San Francisco.

As an undergraduate, Father Ryan studied communications and as a seminarian worked extensively in radio and television. While in the seminary, he spent a year as a disc jockey for KNOM, a radio station owned and operated by the Bishop of Fairbanks, Alaska, that provides religious and educational programs, as well as music, to a widely dispersed population.

Father Ryan also developed a nationally syndicated program in Spanish called “Cinco Minutos,” produced by Paulist communications.

As a priest, he continued his communications work with a weekly program on CFRB in Canada called “Between Ourselves” that used an interview format to discuss social and religious issues. In San Francisco, he produced a weekly radio program in Spanish which included a weekly homily and interviews with people of interest to the local church. Archbishop John Quinn of San Francisco was a frequent guest.

He also worked on the movie “Romero,” about the life of Archbishop Oscar Romero, translating the archbishop’s diary for the production.

One of his more challenging media tasks was providing television translation and commentary for Pope John Paul II on the Spanish language stations in northern California during the pope’s visit there in 1987.

Coming to Hawaii in the late 1980s, his first ministry in the Honolulu diocese was as a Catholic chaplain at Queen’s and Straub medical centers. He was incardinated into the diocese on July 9, 1991. He served as pastor of St. Benedict Church, Honaunau; St. Michael Church, Kailua-Kona; St. John the Baptist Church, Kalihi; and Holy Spirit Parish-Newman Center, Manoa.

From 1990 to 1992, he co-produced and cohosted with Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Kathleen Marie Shields the weekly hour-long live Catholic radio program “Nana I Ka Pono.” The program ran for 112 shows and hosted 162 guests.

Father Ryan also served as the diocesan ecumenical and interfaith officer and on the Diocesan Review Board, the committee that addresses allegations of sexual abuse.

He retired on Jan. 1, 2019.

In a 2007 interview in the Hawaii Catholic Herald, he said his favorite childhood memory was “Christmas with my family.”

Father Jack will be lovingly remembered by his sisters, Denise (Thomas) Murphy and Colleen (Thomas) Poole as well as his nieces, Kristy (Britt) Moore, Kelly Murphy, Caitlyn Poole (Adam), nephews, Ryan Murphy, TJ (Rebecca) Poole, great niece Katie Moore and great nephew, Ellis Moore. Father Jack was predeceased by his parents “Jack” and “Peggy” Ryan.

A Funeral Mass will be held at the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, 1184 Bishop Street, Honolulu, HI on Friday, January 15, 2021, 6:00pm (HST).

A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Raymond of Penafort Catholic Church in Philadelphia, PA, date and time pending due to pandemic restrictions in Pennsylvania.