Father Michael G. Ryan and Pope Leo XIV meeting in Rome (Courtesy of St. James Cathedral)
A trio of anniversaries bespeak the life of Father Michael Ryan, Pastor Emeritus of Seattle’s St. James Cathedral. God only knows — literally — how to keep up with the man. He has witnessed the Catholic Church come full circle, from reformer (St. John XXIII) to dogmatism (Benedict XVI).
He is eighty-five years old. He spent twenty-seven years as pastor of the imposing Cathedral on First Hill. And he has been a priest for nearly sixty years, having been ordained in the waiting days of the Second Vatican Council.
In Rome last week, he conversed face-to-face with Pope Leo XIV, the first American to sit atop the the throne of Peter. The two men took up the plight of immigrants and refugees, demonized by the second Trump regime.
Father Ryan described the conversation in an email: “I got front-row treatment. I thanked him for his strong moral leadership in a world devoid of such and then thanked him for keeping the (Second Vatican) Council front and center — mentioning that I was a ‘child’ of the Council having studied in Rome through throughout.”
Ryan sensed in Leo a papacy “very present and focused”, a Pope “very grounded spiritually and already at the helm.” Quite unlike the dogmatism of Benedict, a disciplinarian dubbed “God’s Rottweiler” in Vatican news reports.
So went a “memorable minute.”
The conversation took place on March 11th, Ryan’s eighty-fifth birthday, during Leo’s General Audience, ahead of the fast-approaching sixtieth anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood. “The stars aligned,” St. James Cathedral said of the timing of the meeting. “Ad multos annos, Father Ryan!”
During a lengthy tenure, unusual in the Seattle archdiocese, Ryan refurbished St. James. He banished guitars at Mass and brought in a women’s choir. Five times in the past twenty five years, believers have marched the 1.46 miles from St. Mark’s to St. James. LGBTQ+ activists took the pulpit at the Catholic cathedral to read from scripture.
Father Michael G. Ryan opens Easter Mass at St. James Cathedral in Seattle with an incensation on Sunday, April 20th, 2025 (Photo: Andrew Villeneuve/NPI)
In secular Seattle, the faith community has forever been required to punch above its weight. It has done just that. Ryan would be archbishop of a large diocese in any competently run church. As it is, his ministry has enriched the city.
Mike Ryan continues to celebrate Mass at St. James. His homilies are on fire with advocacy for immigrants and refugees. The Cathedral nurtures the Hunthausen Fund, named for the venerable and courageous Seattle Archbishop investigated by Rome, which puts displaced families — many victims of violence — into housing.
Happy anniversary, Father Ryan. Here’s to a splendid life and a a meaningful ministry.