A Mass of Christian Burial for Msgr. James W. Ryan, pastor emeritus of St. Fortunata’s Church, East New York/New Lots, was celebrated June 26 at Queen of Peace Residence, Queens Village, where he had been living. He died June 20 at St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn, L.I. A priest of the diocese for 67 years, he was 92 years old.
Born in Glen Cove, L.I., he attended St. John’s College, Brooklyn; and Immaculate Conception Seminary, L.I. He was ordained May 22, 1948 by Bishop Thomas E. Molloy at St. James Pro-Cathedral, Brooklyn.
He served as an assistant at Holy Innocents, Flatbush, 1948; St. Christopher’s, Baldwin, L.I., 1948-50; Sacred Heart, Bayside, 1950-62; St. Malachy, East New York, 1962-67; and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, L.I.C., 1967-1982.
In 1982, he was named pastor of St. Fortunata and served there until 1997. He continued to live in the rectory after retirement. For the past four years, he has been living at Queen of Peace Residence.
Auxiliary Bishop Raymond Chappetto was the main celebrant of the funeral Mass. Special concelebrants included Msgrs. Paul Jervis, John Casey and John Burns. Msgr. T. Peter Ryan, his cousin, preached the homily.
Msgr. T. Peter Ryan, pastor emeritus at Our Lady of Martyrs, Centerport, L.I., was 18 years younger than his cousin and really got to know him well after he went to Queen of Peace Residence.
He had the opportunity to visit him every week or every 10 days, he said.
“I was impressed because he was very aware. He had a great sense of the Diocese of Brooklyn and the different parishes, and the priests who served in them and even those who were serving now,” he said of his first cousin. “He talked about all the parishes in almost an intimate way, it was very remarkable.”
Msgr. James Ryan is remembered as a loving man who visited the seven children of his late brother, Joe Ryan, who passed away about two years ago.
“Jim was very good to those kids,” Msgr. Peter Ryan recalled. “He would visit them almost every week and take them out and down to the beach.”
Later, his nephews and nieces – Mary, Nancy, Joseph, Judith, Pauline, Teresa and James – faithfully visited him. The Ryan family, which has roots in the Cold Spring Harbor area, remembers him as a loving, faithful man.
“He was known as a very spiritual person,” said the homilist. “He had a love for people and you could almost see it when he was in contact with family and visitors in Queen of Peace. Visiting with him brought us a beautiful smile on his part.”
His niece Pauline Marie also remembers him as “an incredible human being.”
“Every moment in his company was a pleasure,” she said. “He was a blessing to so many countless others throughout his priesthood.”
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