August 8
| 2021
VOL 30 NO 6
IN THIS ISSUE
A2 AOFGATHERING CHURCH
A celebration of our diocesan parishes
TO SCHOOL LETTER B1 BACK A3 PASTORAL Diocesan schools set to Bishop Stika addresses the worthy reception of the Holy Eucharist
open for the 2021-22 academic year
He dwells among us ......................... A3 Parish news ....................................... B4 Diocesan calendar ............................ B5 Columns ..........................................B2-3 Catholic schools .......................... B7,10 La Cosecha ............................Section C
Father Ryan returns to Sts. Peter and Paul
Remains of historic Chattanooga priest moved to specially built tomb inside the basilica By Dan McWilliams
DAN MCWILLIAMS
A
Leading the way home Above: Bishop Richard F. Stika on July 31 leads the procession down East 8th Street in Chattanooga to return Servant of God Patrick Ryan to the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, where the priest served from 1872 to 1878. Father Ryan died at age 33 in the yellow fever epidemic of 1878 as he ministered to Chattanoogans who contracted the contagious illness. Below: Bishop Stika places 51 roses on the casket of Father Ryan representing the 51 Diocese of Knoxville parishes and one Catholic mission as pallbearers watch. The casket was placed in a specially built tomb that sits inside the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul as part of the cause for beatification and canonization of the priest. and, playing outside before Mass, bagpiper Katie Helms. Knights state deputy Fred Laufenberg attended, as did Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, Mich., and Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus “Ad Gentes.” The Mass followed a morning procession from Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chattanooga, where Father Ryan’s remains were exhumed and identified earlier in the week and placed in a new coffin. The procession echoed one in 1886, when Father Ryan was reburied from a cemetery near Sts. Peter and Paul into the then-new Mount Olivet across town. Crowds of all faiths lined the streets of River City Father Ryan continued on page A8
BILL BREWER
s Bishop Richard F. Stika presided at the memorial Mass and re-entombment of Servant of God Father Patrick Ryan on July 31 at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul, a miracle attributable to the Chattanooga hero was possibly already in the works. Father Ryan was pastor of the downtown parish when he ministered to yellow-fever victims in Chattanooga, then died of the disease himself in 1878, just a day short of his 34th birthday. “A life well lived, a short one. There’s no greater gift than to give your life for your friends,” the bishop said in his opening remarks. Cardinal Justin Rigali attended the memorial Mass in choir. Concelebrants were basilica rector Father David Carter, who is the episcopal delegate for the cause of Father Ryan’s sainthood; Father John Orr, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Athens and the promoter of justice in the cause; Father Valentin Iurochkin, parochial vicar at the basilica; Father Nick Tran, who lives at the basilica and is pastor of the Vietnamese St. Faustina Public Association of the Faithful; and Father Marcin Gladysz, associate pastor at the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus. Deacon Gaspar DeGaetano of the basilica, the diocesan postulator in the sainthood cause, was deacon of the Gospel. The basilica’s Deacon Tom O’Connell proclaimed the readings, and the downtown parish’s Deacon Hicks Armor, notary for the sainthood cause, was master of ceremonies. Also present were diocesan chancellor Deacon Sean Smith, Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus from East and Middle Tennessee, pallbearers, altar servers who included Diocese of Knoxville seminarians, and musicians who included the Gloria Dei Schola from the basilica
Servant of God’s remains successfully exhumed By Dan McWilliams
BILL BREWER
A
t 10:50 on the morning of July 27, Father David Carter’s voice rang out at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chattanooga: “We are about to lift the coffin from the grave.” And with that, the sainthood cause of Servant of God Father Patrick Ryan took a crucial step, as the exhumation of his remains for re-entombment at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul could proceed. Bishop Richard F. Stika attended the exhumation of the former Sts. Peter and Paul pastor, who died in 1878 in the yellow-fever epidemic in Chattanooga as he selflessly ministered to victims of the plague that would eventually claim his own life. Father Carter, rector of the basilica and episcopal delegate for the sainthood cause, was present at the dig-
Unearthed The coffin of Father Patrick Ryan is lifted from its grave at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Chattanooga on July 27. ging along with a team of experts and witnesses. That team included Dr.
Barbara Golder, a physician and medical witness, and Deacon David Keene,
an archeologist with the Archdiocese of Chicago. Also there were Deacon Gaspar DeGaetano and Deacon Hicks Armor of the basilica parish, as well as diocesan chancellor Deacon Sean Smith. Deacon DeGaetano is the diocesan postulator for the sainthood cause, and Deacon Armor is a notary for the cause. Father John Orr, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Athens, attended as the promoter of justice for the cause. Adjunct notary Becky Dempsey attended, too. Jim Wogan, diocesan communications director, took video of the three-day exhumation as part of the official record of the cause of sainthood and photographer Stephanie Richer took detailed photographs for the same purpose. Ninety-degree-plus temperatures made the work of the gravediggers, which began July 26 and concluded Exhume continued on page A11