Ryan, Reverend Monsignor John Augustine

(1869–1945), the Roman Catholic Church’s expert on economic and social questions during the first half of the twentieth century. Born and educated in Minnesota, he earned a Ph.D. in Sacred Theology from Catholic University of America in 1906 and taught in Washington, D.C. at Catholic University and Trinity College. He served in a number of New Deal federal posts, and from 1920 to 1945, he headed the Social Action Department of the National Catholic Welfare Council (NCWC). He was considered for a position on FEPC, but did not serve. He testified before a congressional committee in favor of permanent FEPC legislation (Chavez-Norton Bill) in 1944. He was also a member of the executive committee of National Council for a Permanent FEPC.