Leo Phillip Ryan

Father Ryan was a much loved and stalwart purveyor of the Catholic faith. He started his faith journey on April 7, 1922 under the loving guidance of his parents, Ida May Keefe Ryan and Francis J. Ryan of Madison, New Jersey. Leo was the next to youngest child, one of eight, and the second of Ida May’s sons to join the priesthood.

The Ryan family lived directly across the street from the St. Vincent Martyr church, and Leo, along with all his brothers and sisters, attended the St. Vincent Martyr School, graduating in 1935. He attended Madison High School, graduating there in 1939. Afterwards, he went on to attend Morris Junior College where he studied Pre-med. In 1941, classes were abruptly suspended due to the onset of World War II. Leo, along with 3 of his 5 brothers and both of his sisters joined the War Effort. He served in the US Military throughout the duration of the war and was honorably discharged in 1946, having attained the rank of Sargent in the Army.

After the War, Leo attended Seton Hall. While there he began to seriously consider the idea of taking up the Priesthood. At one point, he sought to converse about the matter with a parish priest in Ocean City, NJ, but he was firmly rebuffed, even chastised, for having failed to make an appointment. The rejection “...got my back up,” Leo recalled, “Instead of putting me off, it hardened my resolve.” In many respects, this was the essence of his priesthood: when he was challenged the hardest, he dug deep and stood firm. Leo entered the Immaculate Conception Seminary in 1948 and was ordained on May 29, 1954 by Bishop James A. McNulty. Per tradition, his parents presented him with a gold chalice inset with his mother’s diamond, but there was a caveat, the diamond from her wedding ring had already been placed in the chalice given to his brother John, who’d been ordained seven years earlier. That his mother even had a second diamond to give was the result of a gift from her dear friend Eva Watson, who'd given her a diamond seven years earlier to replace the one Ida May had given away.

Leo’s elevation to the priesthood allowed him to join a precious fraternity, affectionately called by family and friends, "The Four Brothers”. The four priests (Leo P. Ryan, John R. Ryan, John P. O’Connell aka "Okie" and Steven Patch) were all Jersey boys, all been ordained within a few short years of one another and all served in northern New Jersey Parishes. The quartet became lifelong friends and compatriots who were well known and much loved throughout the northern New Jersey Catholic community and beyond.

Father Leo first served as assistant Pastor at St. Philips the Apostle in Clifton, NJ. In 1962, he became the Diocesan Director for the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO). During his tenure there, he established the CYO Golf Tournament.

He went on to serve at the Immaculate Conception Parish in Franklin and at Our Lady of Mercy in Whippany before becoming Pastor at St. Lawrence the Martyr in Chester. He served there as Pastor from 1968 until his retirement in 1994.

In 1984, Father Leo was the founder of the Gratitude Mass for Recovering Alcoholics, which is held each year in Chester, NJ on the first Saturday in January. Though the clouds often threatened, and the snow often flew, attendees were never deterred. They often arrive right behind the snowplows and the shovels! In most years, attendees number in the hundreds, all coming together to give thanks to God for the blessing of Recovery.

The “Four Brothers” were each individually elevated to Monsignors by His Holiness, Pope John Paul II. Father Leo became a Monsignor in 1993.

After his "retirement", Monsignor Leo began to split his time between New Jersey and Florida. He continued to summer In New Jersey, where he became one of the earliest residents of “Nazareth Village,” a home for retired priests which had been established in 1994 by Bishop Frank J. Rodimer and Leo's dear friend and former assistant pastor, Monsignor Ray Lopatetsky.

Monsignor Leo wintered in Florida, joining his brother John in Port St. Lucie, where, at the Holy Family Parish, they both became firm friends with Pastor Tom Cauley. Although Monsignor Leo was ostensibly retired, he continually assisted Fr. Cauley for the remainder of his life.

Monsignor John was the third of the “Four Brothers” to go home to God, joining Our Lord in 2002. After his death, Monsignor Leo arranged to have the diamond from Monsignor John’s chalice placed below the cross on his own as a loving testament to his mother and his brother. Monsignor "Okie" died in 1990 and Monsignor Patch went to his reward in 1993.

The Ryan brothers are so well loved in the Holy Family Parish that in 2004, the new parish meeting building was named Ryan Hall in their honor. The Parish has also adopted the tradition of holding an annual gratitude Mass for recovering alcoholics.

Monsignor Ryan was preceded in death by his mother, Ida May Keefe Ryan, his father Francis J. Ryan, Sr., his brothers Francis J Jr., Thomas G, Monsignor John R. and Joseph A, his sisters Ellen M. and Winifred Ryan Pedersen and his nieces Marcia Ryan and Linda Ryan Skellinger. He is survived by his brother Robert S. of Madison, his nephews Francis J. III, Robert S Jr., Joseph A II, Thomas G. Jr., John P. and his nieces, Ann Ryan Christopher, Mary E., Anne Ryan Dello-Russo, Elizabeth and Kate Ryan Matthews.

Visitation for the Monsignor will be held at Holy Family Catholic Church on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 from 4:00 to 8:00 PM with a prayer service at 7:00 pm. A mass of Christian Burial will be on Wednesday, March 6 at 11:00 am at Holy Family Catholic Church in Port St. Lucie, FL. Internment will at St. Vincent Martyr Cemetery in Madison, NJ.

Contributions may be made in his honor to Holy Family Religious Education Fund, 2330 Mariposa Avenue, Port St. Lucie, FL 34952.

Online condolences may be offered at www.aycockportstlucie.com.

Arrangements are entrusted to Aycock Funeral Home, Port St. Lucie, FL.