Father Robert F. Ryan – Archdiocese of Philadelphia

Assignment Record:

DatesAssignment
1948 – 1956 St. Dorothy’s Church, Drexel Hill, PA
1952 – 1962 St. James High School, Chester, PA
1957 Holy Saviour Church (in residence), Linwood, PA
1958 – 1966 Holy Cross Church (in residence), Springfield, PA
1963 Roman Catholic High School for Boys, Philadelphia, PA
1964 – 1973 Cardinal O’Hara High School, Springfield, PA
1967 – 1975 St. Louis Church (in residence), Yeadon, PA
1974 – 1975 Roman Catholic High School for Boys, Philadelphia, PA
1976 – 1994 St. Gertrude Church, West Conshohocken, PA
1995 – 1996 “Retired” – in residence at St. Gertrude Church, West Conshohocken, PA
1997 – 2005 “Retired” – in residence at St. Gabriel’s Hall, Audubon, PA
Source:
  • The Official Catholic Directory, Kenedy & Sons

(The years listed above are the publication years of the Official Catholic Directory. According to the Directory, the assignments provided for a given year are effective as of January 1 of that year. This means that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year at a parish or school was likely at the same assignment for at least part of the previous year as well.)

Father Ryan died in December 2005.
 
Summary:
  • Father Robert F. Ryan was accused of sexually abusing a male minor child on two occasions from approximately 1962 to 1963 when the boy was approximately 14 years old. At the time of the sexual abuse, Father Ryan was assigned to Holy Cross Church in Springfield, Pennsylvania, and the boy was an altar boy at the church and a student at the nearby Holy Cross School.
  • The sexual abuse by Father Ryan took place inside Holy Cross School and included the following: Father Ryan forced the boy to remove all of the boy’s clothing. Then Father Ryan whipped the boy’s bare back and buttocks with a leather belt multiple times. After whipping the boy, Father Ryan put his hands on the boy’s body where Father Ryan had whipped him.
  • The claim settled in 2020 in the low five figures.