Patrick Ryan, S.J., who fostered interfaith understanding as the holder of Fordham’s Laurence J. McGinley Chair in Religion and Society following decades of mission and academic work in West Africa and a wide-ranging career at the University, died of respiratory failure at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx on Aug. 9. He was two days shy of 86.
Fordham President Emeritus Joseph McShane, S.J., whose term overlapped with Father Ryan’s later years at the University, recalled his diverse talents as a powerful preacher, Islamic scholar, and remarkable linguist.
“Perhaps the best way of describing him would be to say that he was a man after the hearts of Saint Ignatius Loyola and Saint Francis Xavier and was therefore a citizen of the world, Jesuit style,” said Father McShane, referring to the more than 50 years that Father Ryan split between Ghana, Nigeria, and Fordham, where he was remembered for his interreligious scholarship, his camaraderie with students, and his wicked sense of humor.
Drawing upon his Jesuit priesthood, his deep knowledge of Islam in West Africa, and fluency in six languages, he was a frequent contributor to America magazine and author of several books, including Amen: Jews, Christians, and Muslims Keep Faith with God.
“He devoted his tenure as the McGinley professor to the work of building bridges of understanding between and among the three Abrahamic faiths,” said Father McShane.
Building Multifaith Bridges
Born in Queens on Aug. 11, 1939, Father Ryan grew up in an “extremely Irish environment,” he said in a 2012 interview at Fordham. His mother, Nancy (born Anna Kennedy), hailed from upper Manhattan. His father, Patrick “Paddy Lacken” Ryan, was a member of the Irish Republican Army who emigrated from County Tipperary and died at age 45 when Father Ryan was 4.
Father Ryan entered the Society of Jesus in 1957 following his graduation from Regis High School and continued his studies at Fordham, earning his bachelor’s in 1963 and Licentiate in Philosophy in 1964 from Shrub Oak, the former Jesuit seminary, and a master’s in English from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 1965. He later earned a Ph.D. in the comparative history of religion from Harvard in 1975.
As part of his Jesuit formation—he was ordained in 1968 at Fordham’s University Church—he taught English in Nigeria for a year, sparking a lifelong connection to the region, its people, and Islam.
“Looking back on it, I realize it was a reckless choice,” he said of his decision to volunteer as a missionary, “but I never got around to reversing it, for which I thank God.”
‘The Most Vivid Years’
Father Ryan spent more than 26 years living in West Africa—“the most vivid years of my life,” he wrote in America. He served at Jesuit institutions, including Loyola Jesuit College in Abuja, Nigeria, where he was its first president from 1999 to 2005, and in Ghana, where he taught for 15 years at two universities.
The harmony he observed between Christians and Muslims in Ghana’s Yoruba community left a lasting impression. “There’s something in their culture that enables them to do more than tolerate—to share with each other their faith and customs,” he said in a 2008 interview.
“During the years I lived in Africa,” he said, “I learned so much about being human.”
An Appreciation of All Faiths
Father Ryan held numerous positions at Fordham from 1983 onward, teaching in the Middle East studies program; holding the Loyola Chair in the Humanities from 1996 to 1998; serving as vice president for mission and ministry from 2005 to 2009; and becoming the second holder of the McGinley Chair from 2009 to 2022.
Thomas Massaro, S.J., the current McGinley Professor, said Father Ryan set a high bar of scholarship and accessibility in the lectures he gave. “He provided a model for how I have and hopefully will handle the chair.”
Fordham alumnus Muhammad Sarwar, GABELLI ’14, attended several McGinley Lectures and fondly recalled meeting Father Ryan while hanging signs for the Muslim Students Association in 2010. As a practicing Muslim, he was surprised to see a Jesuit priest so well-versed in his faith. “You wouldn’t expect a priest to be familiar with the vernacular and the traditions,” he said. Father Ryan later volunteered to be the club’s advisor.
For his McGinley Lectures, Father Ryan always invited both a Jewish and a Muslim respondent to comment, calling the lectures “trialogues.”
Amir Hussain, Ph.D., professor of theological studies at Loyola Marymount University in California, often served as the Muslim respondent. Both men studied at different times under Wilfred Cantwell Smith, Ph.D., an Islamic studies scholar who helped shape the study of modern comparative religion.
“How do our differences help us to understand each other? I think that, for me, was always what Pat was doing, which is really the key to comparative theology,” said Hussain. “It’s not that we try to convert the other, it’s that we help each other find what is meaningful in our own tradition.”
Examining the nature of faith itself was also core to Father Ryan’s study of theology. As he told a former Fordham student and now Jesuit priest, Ian Peoples, S.J., in 2018, “If you have no doubts, you’re a fanatic. If you’re never questioned something, you’re too bloody certain. … If we don’t question our faith, if we don’t question our lack of faith, there’s something wrong somewhere. The theology I like to do has to be done on that frontier.”
Returning to Africa
Father Ryan retired from Fordham in 2022. After a trip to Ghana, he moved into Murray-Weigel Hall, adjacent to the Rose Hill campus, in 2023. He is survived by his nephew Edmond O’Reilly and first cousin John Kennedy. He is predeceased by his mother and father; his sister, Mary; and brother-in-law, Liam. His wake will be held Friday, Aug. 15, at Murray-Weigel Hall Chapel from 3 to 8 p.m., with a prayer service at 7 p.m., followed by a funeral Mass on Saturday, Aug. 16, at 10 a.m. at University Church, which will be livestreamed. In honor of his wishes, his cremains will be transported to Ghana.
