Fr Liam Ryan, professor emeritus of sociology, Limerickman, hurler, storyteller, priest, writer and local historian, died in May 2015.
As professor of sociology (1969 to 2000) in St Patrick’s College, Maynooth (later NUI Maynooth, now Maynooth University), he was instrumental in the development of the university as a secular institution. He also played a key role in founding its departments of anthropology, adult and community education and applied social studies.
On December 4th, 2015, Liam’s family, friends, former colleagues and students gathered at Maynooth to celebrate his life and his outstanding contribution to sociology, to the university, and to Ireland.
Born at Cappamore, Co Limerick, in 1936, he excelled at both academic pursuits and at sport.
He attended St Flannan’s College, Ennis, before going to the seminary at Maynooth.
Liam and his brother Seamus, also a priest, famously played on the Limerick hurling team known as Mackey’s Greyhounds (after trainer and Limerick hurling legend Mick Mackey). In 1955 Liam Ryan, then 19, captained Limerick to a Munster title. Every hurley with which Liam and his brother played was crafted from local ash by their father Willie Ryan, himself a hurler of renown.
Unusually, Liam held two doctorates, one in theology, the other in sociology. Before he completed his doctorate on the Irish in 1960s Britain, he had already published a ground-breaking work, Social Dynamite (1967), on early school-leaving in Limerick. It is regarded as an Irish sociological classic.
He also wrote on the sociology of religion, prison conditions and the family. It was said that he wrote with eloquence and insight in equal measure. A fellow sociologist, President Michael D Higgins, noted that Liam was informed by “a passionate social ethic and a peerless intellect”.
Liam Ryan was also an educational innovator, at Maynooth University and beyond. In the late 1980s he helped pioneer the extension of access to education in sociology with the Oscail distance education BA programme, involving seven universities.
He contributed to development of social studies in the regional technical colleges (now institutes of technology) and other colleges that came within the scope of the National Council for Education Awards.
Students of Liam’s testify to his inspirational teaching style. One such, former president of Maynooth University Prof Tom Collins, described Liam as “an intellectual anti-hero who did not so much interrogate the claims of alternative belief systems as dismiss them each in turn with an ironic remark or a perfectly directed barb”.
Liam was smart, funny, irascible and humane. His compassion and kindness to friends, family and students was widely acknowledged.
He retired to his beloved Cappamore, where he lent his wisdom and insight to local projects.
At the recent celebration of Liam's life in Maynooth some guests burst into song, including Fr Dick Browne of Cappamore parish. He sang The Ballad of John Hayes, a paean penned by Liam to another local hero. His long-time friend and neighbour Paddy O'Malley read The Hurler's Prayer in remembrance of their halcyon days with Cappamore GAA.
It ends: When the final whistle for me has blown
And I stand at last before God's judgment throne
May the great referee when he calls my name
Say, you hurled like a man;
You played the game.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.
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