By Paula Day

Godfrey Philip Ryan, a native of Kilkenny, Ireland, was ordained May 12 for service in the archdiocese of Atlanta. Bishop Laurence Forristal, D.D., of Ossory, Ireland, officiated at the ordination in St. Mary’s Cathedral in Kilkenny.

Visitors for the ordination from the Atlanta archdiocese included Father Paul Reynolds, pastor of St. John Neumann parish in Lilburn, and Bette and Robert Lind. Mrs. Lind is director of religious education for the Lilburn parish.

Father Ryan was born May 26, 1950, in Kilkenny. His mother, Mrs. Patricia Ryan, resides there. His father is deceased. An older brother, John, and a younger sister, Angie, were lectors at the ordination Mass. He also has a younger brother, Patrick.

Deacon Brendan Doyle, who is studying for the Atlanta archdiocese, also participated in the ordination ceremonies.

Prior to entering St. John’s College in Waterford, Ireland, as a seminarian, Father Ryan was employed in hotel management in England and on the west coast of Ireland. As a seminarian and deacon, he spent two summers in the archdiocese.

In 1985 he worked two and a half months in Christ Our Hope parish, Lilburn, where he visited parishioners and the sick and helped coordinate liturgies. This latter task entailed helping in the extra work involved because the young parish was using the Lilburn high school at the time for weekends Masses, according to Father John Kieran, pastor.

“He was very much liked here,” Father Kieran recalled. The parish prepared, signed and sent a large poster to Ireland for the ordination.

As a deacon, he returned to work in St. John Neumann parish in Lilburn last summer. There he was involved in all areas of the parish’s religious education program, visited the sick and preached at Sunday masses.

Father Ryan is a graduate of St. John’s College, Waterford, Ireland. He is expected to arrive in the archdiocese in mid-June, when he will be assigned to parish work.