James Ryan attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Mount St. Mary's Seminary of the West in Cincinnati, Ohio.

[3] He was once received by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and his send-off party was attended by the likes of Ambassador Hans Luther, Assistant Attorney General Joseph B. Keenan, Justice Pierce Butler, Postmaster General James Farley, Secretary Henry A. Wallace, and Canon Anson Phelps Stokes.

[3] Ryan served as the first executive secretary of the National Catholic Welfare Council (1920–28), and was raised to the rank of domestic prelate in 1927 and of protonotary apostolic in 1929.

[1] On August 15, 1933, Ryan was appointed titular bishop of Modra by Pope Pius XI, in acknowledgment of his accomplishments as rector.

[2] In 1939, he was sent to South America to "develop cultural relationships" on behalf of the American Catholic Church and the U.S. Department of State.