Stephen was born the 7th of 11 siblings in Chandler, Arizona, one of 9 boys and 2 girls. Raised by devout parents in a faithful Catholic family, he spent 12 years in Catholic schools. Stephen was Freshman Class President and Student Body President at Seton Catholic Preparatory High School. He took time off after graduation to cowboy up on the Haltercross Ranch near Heber, Arizona.
Stephen majored in Journalism for a year at Northern Arizona University and two years at Mesa Community College, where he was co-editor of the MCC Legend.
Understanding college life was not for him, Stephen enlisted in US Army Signal Intelligence as a Morse Code Interceptor TSSI clearance, graduated early with honor from Intelligence school at Ft. Devins, MA, and served 3 1/2 years at Field Station Augsburg, Germany.
After Sergeant E-5 Ryan was honorably discharged, he began a 25-year journey as a lay missionary for the Catholic Church in Dioceses around the world. In 1990 Pope St John Paul II officially designated him as a bi-ritual Catholic (Roman and Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic) at the request of Archbishop Volodymyr Sterniuk, Head of the Ukrainian Byzantine Catholic Church centered at the time in L’viv, Ukraine under the authoritarian fist of the still existent Soviet Union and Mikhail Gorbachev. (1990) Stephen is fluent in Spanish, Italian, Ukrainian, and Russian and reads and understands Latin, Polish and other Eastern European languages.
Stephen helped conduct youth retreats and week-long missions for young men teens to twenties in the US from 1986-89. He was also deeply involved in the formation of lay couples in the spirit and practical applications of their apostolate in the family and the workplace. After two missions to India (1989-90) Stephen was sent to Soviet Ukraine in 1990, and was present during the August 1991 Coup d’etat’ from start to finish. That event is erroneously referred to as the ‘collapse of the Soviet Union’. It was a temporary but necessary downsizing, as told to me by Soviet officials in western Ukraine at the time. Stephen and Thomas Creen remained with Cardinal Myroslav Ivan Lubachyvski and his closest aides to face whatever might befall the Church, (among them Fr Kenneth Nowakowski, now Bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of London, England). When Ukrainian independence was declared, Stephen was named the first Director of Youth Activities for the Archeparchy of L’viv since the dissolution of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church at the L’viv Synod by the Communists in 1946. He and Tom taught English to the first group of about 250 Ukrainian seminarians, all in one classroom, at the Major seminary in Rudno. The village Communist Mayor and Council turned off all heat and water during an extremely bitter winter. The seminarians were incredibly mindful of Stephen and Tom throughout that incredibly difficult time.
While in Ukraine (1990-1997) Stephen co-founded and was Master of Ceremonies for spiritual youth concerts (for young and old) attended by tens of thousands over the course of that time, culminating in a concert for over 50,000 faithful at the ancient Marian spiritual shrine of Zarvanitsya.
Stephen was named Regional Director for the men’s and women’s communities in Ukraine, Russia, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. He was instrumental in obtaining and establishing the orphanage now existing in the village of Bortnyky, Ukraine, as well as obtaining the 500 yr old monastery and church in L’viv, Ukraine, now known as The Church of St Josaphat and all Ukrainian Catholic Martyrs.
In 1997 Stephen was assigned to London, England (1997-2005) where he would co-found the Continuity Movement in the British Isles and the Continuity Journal with former Anglican Bishop of London, Mgr. Graham Leonard, KCVO. He co-authored ‘A Man To Move Hearts – A Life Of Paul Murphy, MJ’ with renowned English author Joanna Bogle. Because of the Continuity Movement in England and Wales and the Continuity Journal he edited and wrote for, he was named an honorary member of The Catholic Writers Guild for England and Wales. He also edited a major prayer book in four languages (English, Spanish, Ukrainian, Latin) and edited Isabel, a bi-lingual Catholic magazine in Spanish and English.
As Master of Ceremonies for the International Path To Rome conferences (PTR), Stephen developed great friendships with members of British Parliament (Rt. Hon. Lord Deben (John Gummer) MP who was also Minister of Agriculture for Prime Minister John Major; Rt Hon Anne Widdecombe and Lord David Alton), and presidential administrations (Adm. John and Linda Poindexter. The Admiral was National Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan); of the nobility: (Lord Nicholas Windsor and wife Princess Paola du Francopan Windsor, and HIRH Archduchess Alexandra von Hapsburg and husband H.E. Hector Riesle, former Ambassador to the Vatican for Chile, and Alexandra’s father Grand-duke Rudolph, youngest son of Karl, last Holy Roman Emperor.
Stephen has served in various positions around the world. He’s been a retreat leader and spiritual director in many countries in several languages, Director of parish Adult Faith Formation programs, and founder and Regional Director of Catholic Charities, Colorado Springs Diocese.
He has returned, after many years, to a ranch out on the desert in old Sonora in southern Arizona with his wife Barbara, to be near their families. Their parents have passed on but their families continue to grow through nieces and nephews, and the next generations. Stephen and Barb enjoy their dogs, horses, chickens and many other desert critters, the vast open deserts and, in a special way, their beloved Dragoon Mountains!