Patrick Joseph "Paddy" Ryan (13 March 1904 – 18 January 1969), invariably referred to as Dr P. J. Ryan, was an Australian

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

priest and anti-communist organiser. Ryan was born in

Albury Albury (; ) is a major regional city that is located in the Murray River, Murray region of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the twin city of Albury–Wodonga, Albury-Wodonga and is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1904 and ordained as a priest in the order of the

Missionaries of the Sacred Heart The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (MSC; ; ) are a missionary congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded in 1854 by Jules Chevalier at Issoudun, France, in the Diocese of Bourges. The motto of the Missionaries of the S ...

in 1929. After gaining a doctorate in Rome, he returned to Australia and for many years taught philosophy at the order's seminary in Kensington, New South Wales. His philosophy was strictly neo-scholastic and he vigorously debated the atheist philosophers of

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

Life and career

During 1940-01, he took over the ''Question Box'' program on radio

2SM 2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's. 2SM's prog ...

while the regular presenter, his colleague Dr Rumble, was touring America. He was the principal founder and head in Sydney of the `Movement', the semi-secret Catholic anti-communist organisation that struggled with communism for control of the union movement in the late 1940s and early 1950s, thus being the counterpart of B. A. Santamaria in Melbourne. After the

Australian Labor Party split of 1955 The Australian Labor Party split of 1955 was a split within the Australian Labor Party along ethnocultural lines and about the position towards communism. Key players in the split were the federal opposition leader H. V. "Doc" Evatt and B. A. ...

, however, he, like the majority of Sydney Labor supporters, followed the A.L.P. instead of the new Democratic Labor Party. Ryan frequently engaged in polemics with Communists and Communist apologists. His most prominent public activity was a debate in 1948 in Sydney with Edgar Ross of the

Communist Party of Australia The Communist Party of Australia (CPA), known as the Australian Communist Party (ACP) from 1944 to 1951, was an Australian communist party founded in 1920. The party existed until roughly 1991, with its membership and influence having been ...

on "Whether Communism is in the best interests of the Australian people." An audience of 30,000 heard a vigorous debate. Communist Party president

Lance Sharkey Lawrence Louis Sharkey (19 August 1898 – 13 May 1967), commonly known as Lance Sharkey or L. L. Sharkey, was an Australian trade unionist and communist leader. From 1948 to 1965, he served as the secretary-general of Communist Party of Austr ...

replied to Ryan's attacks. Ryan's many anti-Communist speeches in the next few years helped create the strong Australian Catholic tradition of

anti-communism Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism, communist beliefs, groups, and individuals. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in Russia, and it reached global ...

. He was vigorous in exposing organisations suspected of being Communist-led :1. Eureka Youth League :2. Union of Australian Women (formerly New Housewives Association) :3. Australian Russian Society (originally Friends of the Soviet Union) :4. Australian Peace Council (organisers of Communist Peace Drive in Australia) :5. League for Peace in the Pacific (formerly Committee Against Japanese Rearmament) :6. Democratic Rights Council (set up to counter the Communist Party Dissolution Bill. Its counterpart in Victoria was the Civic Liberties Association) :7.

Fellowship of Australian Writers The Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) is a collection or federation of state-based organizations aiming to support and promote the interests of Australian writers. It was established in Sydney in 1928, with the aim of bringing writers togethe ...

:8. Freelance Journalists Association :9. New Theatre League :10. Studio of Realist Art :11. Realist Film Association :12. Atlas Greek Club :13. Italia Libera — published ''Il Risveglio'' ("The Awakening") :14. Australia-China Association :15. Committee for Better Marketing :16. Gratuity Revaluation Committee :17. New Deal for Education (sponsored by the Teachers' Federation) Also communist-controlled unions and the Queensland branch of the Legion of Ex-Servicemen

Personal

In 1943 Ryan accidentally shot and killed a man he mistook for a rabbit; the

coroner A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within th ...

found he was blameless. He died in 1969.

References

External links

J. Franklin
Catholic Values and Australian Realities
(Connor Court Publishing, 2006), ch. 2. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Patrick Joseph 1904 births 1969 deaths People from Albury 20th-century Australian Roman Catholic priests Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Australian anti-communists 20th-century Australian philosophers Pontifical Gregorian University alumni