John Shearer: Attending Father Patrick Ryan Film Premiere

Members of Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church and other supporters attended the premiere of the 48-minute docudrama Saturday night about the church’s 19^th century priest, Father Patrick Ryan, who had succumbed to the yellow fever epidemic while trying to attend to others.

I found it a very engaging and well-done film by the former Hollywood couple of director/writer Veronica DiPippo and producer and music composer Marc Aramian, who now live in Chattanooga.

Since I was very, very indirectly connected to the film, they and other officials had kindly sent me an invitation to attend the initial screening at Notre Dame High and reception in the entrance hall beforehand, where champagne and hors d’oeuvres/finger foods were served.

My connection had started last year, when I received an email from Mr. Aramian, who told me about the film and had seen the story I had written about the 2021 dedication of Father Ryan’s new tomb at the basilica after his remains had earlier been exhumed from Mt. Olivet Cemetery.

I have forgotten the details, but I think he was wanting to know a little about Chattanooga history at that time, so I told him I could show him and Ms. DiPippo a few places that might have been connected to that period of the 1870s in Chattanooga.

So, one day last July, I met them in front of the Chattanooga Public Library, and we went up by the Brabson House, which I knew had been around at that time, although it was remodeled and given a new look over the years.

I thought they might want to get some shots or maybe just some ideas for future filming, and the next thing I knew, I was signing a consent form and getting hooked up with a microphone, which was no big deal with me. I think they were maybe still in the early stages of putting the film together and wanted to get me talking generally in a historical sense about that era in Chattanooga’s history.

Since I knew the yellow fever scourge that went through Chattanooga in 1878 was not a topic I had done a whole lot of research or writing on, I had brought along a copy of John Wilson’s book, “Chattanooga’s Story,” where he devotes a chapter to it. And knowing I would be interviewed, I tried to quickly scan it as they set up.

They said I did OK, so we went next to the Citizens Cemetery across Fifth Street/Mocs Alumni Drive from UTC, where some of the yellow fever victims were buried, and then on to Forest Hills Cemetery, where a marker to nurse and victim Hattie Ackerman is located.

Each time, Mr. Aramian in his friendly manner would hook me up with a microphone, while they would ask me a few questions while holding their iPhone-type camera.

I think I ran out of ways to say how bad the yellow fever epidemic was in Chattanooga in my very limited knowledge on that topic, but we finished the tour and interviews and soon kindly went our separate ways within an hour or slightly longer after we started.

I had mostly forgotten about the pleasant experience when I felt important being interviewed, but then a few weeks ago I received an email from Mr. Aramian saying that they ended up having a more limited film budget and had to focus strictly on Father Ryan. As a result, my interviews were not included.

However, he did say they might be able to use them for another film they had in mind. But he also said he wanted to invite me and a guest to attend the gala premiere. My wife, Laura, had spent a good part of Saturday volunteering at another event and knew she would be worn out by dinnertime, so I ended up going over to Notre Dame High by myself.

After seeing several other people walking in the school who were mostly casually dressed, I happily threw my sport coat back in the car and walked in, too. Since I had grown up in Valleybrook where a lot of Catholic families lived in the 1960s and ‘70s, I thought I might see some other acquaintances at the event, although most of them had gone to St. Jude Catholic Church, I think.

But once inside, I did not really see a soul I knew. I saw Mr. Aramian and Ms. DiPippo off in the distance, but they were either busy greeting others or taking part in the program, and then I had to rush out as the program was ending. So, I unfortunately did not get to greet them and congratulate them and thank them for the invitation.

But I did see some friends in the form of the nachos with salsa and hot queso cheese and chicken tamales catered by La Altena restaurant. So, I heartily passed the time before the premiere munching on those and a few healthy vegetable sticks and even going back for seconds. And as a boring teetotaler, I was glad to find some sweetened iced tea to wash it all down after champagne was highlighted as the main drink in the invitation.

Less than an hour after I arrived, I went inside the auditorium with a couple hundred others to get ready for the program. I am not sure if the auditorium was built after Notre Dame’s original construction in the mid-1960s, but it looked like one of the nicest school auditoriums found anywhere in Chattanooga.

Father J. David Carter, the pastor and rector at Sts. Peter and Paul, welcomed the guests totaling around 200 or so people and threw out his praises for his predecessor in Chattanooga Catholic ministry, Father Ryan.

“It is my great honor to look back and see this great leader of the faith and tell his story,” he said, adding that the project to look at Father Ryan’s life had taken on a new meaning with the connectedness to the recent coronavirus pandemic.

The film, described as a docudrama, then began. It followed the life of Father Ryan from Ireland to the U.S. and New York and eventually Chattanooga beginning in 1872. It said he had been an athletic seminary student with a lot of common sense, and that he had faithfully attended to his parishioners and others at a time when Catholics in a city like Chattanooga were very much in the minority and sometimes looked at with a little bit of a skeptical eye.

The film also told of his friendship with the Rev. Jonathan Bachman of First Presbyterian Church, and that Mr. Bachman visited him while he was ill.

Father Ryan had also brought the Dominican Sisters to Chattanooga to start Notre Dame School in 1875, and several sisters were in attendance at the premiere Saturday.

After wanting to help in Memphis when the yellow fever epidemic broke out there, he did help with priestly and comforting duties when the horrific illness later hit in Chattanooga. Unfortunately, he became one of the victims in his selfless efforts to get close to and help others. He ended up dying one day before his 34^thbirthday in late September of that year.

His younger brother, Michael, had also entered the priesthood but was so distraught after Patrick’s death that he died a few years later as a man suffering from mental health and depression issues, the film said.

Ms. DiPippo narrated the film, while Jack Pettigrew played Father Ryan. Interviewed were Father Carter, physician Dr. Hal Hill, and Michael Meehan and Gaspar Gaetano of the committee working to get Father Ryan possibly declared a saint through his Cause for Canonization.

Matt Hanner was in charge of cinematography, while others playing parts included Jonah Coronis, Maureen Pettigrew (who also helped with the Saturday event), Steve Davis and David DiStefano, the latter of whom played Rev. Bachman with his walrus-like mustache. Thomas Jacob was the vocalist.

Scenes were shot at places like Reflection Riding and the historic DiStefano home, they said.

In a question-and-answer session afterward, Ms. DiPippo said she had worked in the film industry but they wanted a new environment and settled in Chattanooga. Mr. Aramian said after they had begun attending Sts. Peter and Paul, they had lunch with Father Carter at the Mayan Kitchen restaurant in downtown Chattanooga and had told him they had background in film and figured they could maybe help with a church promo video or something like that.

They quickly realized Father Carter had another idea in mind. “He said, ‘I have been praying since yesterday: how are we going to tell the story of Father Ryan to the world,’” Mr. Aramian said he remembered Father Carter telling them. Thus, the idea for the film shown Saturday began.

The film, titled “Father Ryan: A Higher Call,” has been nominated for best documentary and best director at the International Christian Film and Music Festival, they said, and has also been selected for the Christian World Arts Festival. it is also to be broadcast on Sept. 28, the day Father Ryan died, on the EWTN Catholic television network.

They also plan to have a screening on May 6 at Knoxville Catholic High School, since Sts. Peter and Paul is part of the Knoxville Diocese.

Mr. Meehan of the Cause committee also told the filmgoers after the show of their efforts since 2017 to find more information on Father Ryan and of their trips to places like St. Louis to uncover facts, some of which were used in the film. Fellow member Mary Portera was also recognized, as was a now-deceased original member of the group.

They also had found some information in a church history written by Father George Flanigen in 1952.

Father Carter jokingly told the group after the film that they have not been able to find the baptismal records for Father Ryan in Ireland, in part because there were so many Patrick Ryans living there at the time. Church officials have also previously pointed out he is not the same Father Ryan for whom the Nashville school is named.

Officials also said they had raised $43,000 of the needed $85,000 as part of their efforts to canonize Father Ryan, so a collection was taken up at the end.

I then left but glad I was able as a United Methodist to connect and learn a little more about another branch of the Christian faith. I was also gratified to see a film depicting the actions of one man whose positive, noble, and compassionate work would be held in high regard by all faiths and beliefs.

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jcshearer2@comcast.net