Bishop Terry will be the main celebrant at a Memorial Requiem Mass for Father Colman Ryan, who died on November 12 last year.

Father Colman, who was 77, served in parishes in Whitby, Middlesbrough, Hull, Scarborough and Thirsk. He had been in ill health for several years.

Born Colman Marius Patrick Ryan in Limerick city on November 23 1941, he attended seminary at St Patrick’s, Thurles, and was ordained in Tipperary on June 10 1967, the same day as fellow diocesan priests Father Dan O’Neill, Father Bill Ryan, Father Dermot Nunan RIP, Father Kevin Trehy and Father Pat Bluett.

He came to the diocese as curate at St Hilda’s in Whitby between 1967 and 1976 and then moved on to St Francis’, Middlesbrough, where he remained until 1981. Between 1981 and 1992 he served as parish priest at the Holy Name in Hull before moving to St Peter’s, Scarborough, where he remained until 1998.

His final posting was as parish priest at All Saints in Thirsk. When he retired from there in 2010 he returned to Hull, where was cared for at Alexandra Court Care Home. Father Colman’s body was taken back to Ireland and his funeral Mass was celebrated in Our Lady Queen of Peace Church in Limerick, before burial in Mount St Lawrence Cemetery.

“We give grateful thanks for his ministry in the diocese,” said the vicar general, Monsignor Gerard Robinson. “We would also like to express thanks to the staff at Alexandra Court Care Home and I know many priests and Father Colman’s family visited him there regularly. We will continue to keep him and his family in our prayers.”

Father Colman is survived by his brothers, William, Father Damian and Joseph, his sisters-in-law Carmel and Ronnie, nephews and nieces and an extended family.

The Memorial Mass will take place in All Saints Church, Thirsk, at noon on Tuesday February 18.

The intentions of Father Colman’s family and friends will also be remembered during the Mass and it is hoped that relatives will be able to come from Ireland to be with us.