Birth and Early Life
Ryan was born on May 25, 1869, in Vermillion (Dakota County), Minnesota, to William Ryan and Maria Luby. Raised in the Populist tradition on a farm homesteaded by his Irish Catholic parents alongside his ten younger siblings, Ryan’s childhood experience with the challenges faced by farmers informed his early investment in economic justice and the role of the Catholic Church in promoting social change.
Ryan’s interest in moral reflection on contemporary economic issues and empathy for the poor was further cultivated in his early teenage years when Ryan read Henry George’s Progress and Poverty. While Ryan later confessed to not fully understanding the book at the time, he cites his first reading of George’s work as the beginning of a life long commitment to questions of social justice.
Read more about this topic: John A. Ryan
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