Countywide : Auxiliary Bishops Appointed

A Camarillo priest has been named one of two new auxiliary bishops of the sprawling Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archbishop Roger Mahony announced Tuesday.

Monsignor Sylvester D. Ryan, 59, rector of St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo, was appointed bishop by Pope John Paul II, along with Monsignor Stephen Blair, the moderator of the curia and chancellor of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, who will remain in that position. Ryan said he was overwhelmed. “It’s a big responsibility,” he said. “Also, it was not in my plans.”

Ryan said he had planned to go back to being a parish priest before the appointment, which will make him the new director of the archdiocese’s Secretariat for Church Ministerial Services.

Mahony said the additions reflect the Pope’s recognition of the growth of the archdiocese, which is home to about 3.5 million Catholics and sprawls over 8,762 square miles of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.

“There are new parishes to be added,” Mahony said. “There is going to be plenty of work for us for some time.”

Mahony said Ryan will work with him to add impetus to vocational efforts and direct the archdiocese’s three seminaries.

“It’s a different kind of mind set,” Ryan said. “I will be working with Our Lady Queen of Angels, St. John’s Seminary College and St. John’s Seminary Theology.”

Ryan, who has been with St. John’s Seminary College for more than four years and will officially end his duties as rector there when he is appointed bishop May 31 at St. Vibiana’s Cathedral, said he does not believe his absence as rector will be detrimental to the seminary.

Ryan said his successor, Father Rafael Luevano, is “very capable and will do an outstanding job.”

As for the new responsibilities he will undertake, Ryan said some of his work will be the “enabling of young men interested in the priesthood” and that he would also be working with the multi-ethnic community.

Ryan said his new position will also require a move to the Los Angeles area so he can have access to the seminaries.

Officials at the archdiocese in Los Angeles said the appointments are part of a complex and confidential process that involves the archbishop and other bishops who send their recommendations to Rome. The Pope makes the final decision.