LEO V. RYAN, C.S.V., CELEBRATES GOLDEN JUBILEE WITH HOMETOWN PARISH

In a special Mass of Thanksgiving held in his honor, Brother Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V., Sunday, May 14, celebrated with the congregation of St. Patrick's Catholic Church 50 years as a brother in the Clerics of St. Viator, one of several events in which Brother Ryan has and will participate in during this Golden Jubilee year.
For those unfamiliar with the significance of the event, Brother Leo describes the Golden Jubilee as an anniversary. "Just as married couples celebrate silver, golden and diamond anniversaries of their marriage, so do the members of religious communities on the anniversary of their first vows," he explains. The vows Brother Leo committed to uphold March 2, 1950, were of celibacy, poverty and obedience.
Coincidentally, Brother Leo's Golden Jubilee also coincides with his retirement from DePaul University in Chicago, IL, where he has served for the past 19 years as dean, eight years of which he also taught as professor. In honor of the retirement, the university has named the former dean professor emeritus, and additionally, the Center for Creativity in Business at the school was renamed the Leo V. Ryan, C.S.V. Center.
And before his departure, the university bestowed upon Brother Ryan the Via Sapientiae award, the highest honor the university can give a faculty member. Brother Ryan was named Entrepreneur Educator of the Year and, in November, was inducted into the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur Educators Hall of Fame in Palm Springs, CA.
In recognition of these two very significant events in Brother Leo V. Ryan's academic and religious career, the brother was afforded a year of sabbatical for rest and renewal. As part of this process, Brother Leo embarked on an around-the-world adventure learning voyage to what have been referred to as "forgotten places." A series of articles will print in this newspaper detailing focal points of this journey.
Brother Leo has also recently spent time in a Benedictine Monastery in Wisconsin and is planning a visit to the Cistercian Monastery in Kentucky in his goal for spiritual renewal.
In reflecting upon the past 50 years, Brother Leo Ryan has cited many significant and life-changing events - far too many to list and all uniquely significant.
He has set precedence through various achievements, including his designation as the first U.S. Clerics of St. Viator brother to be elected assistant general of the congregation, later named treasurer general of the C.S.V. in Rome, 1967.
Brother Leo was also the first American Roman Catholic commissioned into the U.S. Foreign Service when he was named deputy director of the U.S. Peace Corps/Nigeria in 1966. Just one year later, he was designated director of the U.S. Peace Corps/Western Nigeria. Eventually, the people of Nigeria elected Brother Ryan chief of the Yourba Kingdom of Oshogbo, the first American ever bestowed the honor.
"In the official language, my title was Asoju Atoaja of Oshogbo, which meant 'eye watching the world on behalf of he who accepts fish from his people in tribute in the kingdom on the shores of the Oshun River,'" explains Brother Leo.
Other accomplishments include designation as the consultant to the Vatican Commission of Justice and Peace in designing the liaison with UNESCO. It was during this term that he also helped establish Agrimisso, the Vatican liaison with FAO.
Brother Leo was a member of the executive committee of the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference Committee on Education, as well as coordinator and author of the first draft of the U.S. Bishops Letter on Education. This document, entitled "To Teach as Jesus Did," was one of two cited by Pope John Paul II during his last visit to the United States.
Brother Leo V. Ryan has been appointed by presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon to the President's Committee on the Employment of the Handicapped, a role which he served for 23 continuous years. He was later appointed by President Regan to the executive committee of the National Advisory Council Small Business Administration.
In his five decades with the Clerics of St. Viator, Brother Ryan has also enjoyed generous travel permissions, including some 168 countries to date, during which excursions he was invited to take part in private audiences of Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul II.
To initiate this year-long Golden Jubilee celebration, Brother Leo Ryan was invited March 25 to Rome, Italy by the superior general of his religious order. It is in Italy that the General Direction, or world headquarters, of the Clerics of St. Viator is located, and where a Eucharistic celebration of thanksgiving in honor of Brother Leo's 50th anniversary was held.
During the mass, the V. Rev. Leonard Audet, C.S.V., superior general, expressed thanks on behalf of the worldwide community for Brother Leo's "rich and generous contribution to the church, to his religious congregation, to his own countries and to many other countries...where he has offered...devoted and competent leadership in the field of education." He spoke also of Brother Leo's service in Rome as assistant general of the congregation.
Brother Leo then renewed his vows and delivered a reflection on his vocation. Representatives of the Clerics of St. Viator of Canada, France and Spain attended the ceremony.
Only four days later, Brother Leo participated in a papal audience with Pope John Paul II. He was accorded further honor at the Vatican, where Dr. Walter Persegati of the Vatican Museums invited Brother Leo for a private visit to the Sistine Chapel to view Michelangelo's Last Judgment and recently restored chapel murals.
Since his birthday, April 6, coincided with the Rome visit, the event was marked by a mass offered by Father Roger Brosseau, C.S.V. A birthday dinner was attended by long-time friend Abbott Leo Ryska, O.S.B., formerly of Benet Lake, WI, and presently at St. Paul Outside the Walls, one of the four major basilicas in Rome.
June 11, then, Brother Leo will again be honored in a special ceremony to be held at the Provincial Headquarters for the United States of the Clerics of St. Viator, located in Arlington Heights, IL. There, a total of seven priests and brothers, each celebrating a Jubilee of vows or ordination, will be celebrated in a Mass of Thanksgiving.
A fourth generation native of Allamakee County, Leo Vincent Ryan was born in 1927 to John Joseph and Mary Irene (O'Brien) Ryan. Leo's father, John, farmed the Ryan homestead until 1927, when he joined the T.F. O'Brien & Company hardware business founded by Leo's maternal grandfather, Thomas F. O'Brien. When O'Brien passed away in 1943, he was the oldest living businessman in Waukon.
Brother Leo was raised in Waukon, graduated from St. Patrick's grade school in 1940, then St. Patrick's High School in 1944. While in high school, he was twice named the state debate champion. Brother Ryan is a charter member of the Allamakee County Historical Society and, as a hobby, specializes in Allamakee County postal history.
The public reception that followed the May 14 mass at St. Patrick's Church was hosted by William and Elizabeth Hart, the latter of whom is Leo V. Ryan's sister. The couple's children in attendance at the celebration included Gregory Hart of Highland Ranch, CO; Christine Hart of Des Moines; Dan Hart of Cedar Rapids; and Diane (Hart) Wolfe of Waukon.