Fr. Ernest Ranly, C.PP.S. (1930-2011)

Fr. Ernest Ranly, C.PP.S., 81, died at 4 a.m. Friday, November 18, 2011, in the infirmary of St. Charles Center, Carthagena, Ohio. He had been in failing health in recent weeks.

He was born February 19, 1930, in Cassella, Ohio, to Peter and Sophia (Speck) Ranly. He entered the Society of the Precious Blood in 1944 and was ordained on June 2, 1956.

After his ordination he was assigned to teach philosophy and religion at St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Ind., which is sponsored by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. He taught at the college for 17 years before he requested an assignment to the Missionaries' mission in Peru.

He spent the next 35 years of his life in South America. His ministries in Peru included parish work, preaching missions in remote rural areas, teaching, writing, and vocation and formation work. He also served as the director of the Peruvian mission.

In 2005, he led the C.PP.S. into new territory, as the Cincinnati Province established its ad experimentum mission in Colombia. Fr. Ranly urged the province to minister in Colombia, where the message of the saving power of the Blood of Christ was so badly needed. He directed the mission from Bogota. Losing his eyesight, he reluctantly left the mission he loved and returned to the U.S. in 2008.

In retirement at St. Charles, he continued his ministry with many projects, including English translations of the spiritual writing he had done in South America. He published his memoirs, "Picking Up Stuff," which told the story of his life growing up on a farm in Cassella, Ohio. He was part of a team that ministered to Spanish-speaking Catholics in west central Ohio. He kept in constant contact with his friends and colleagues in Latin America.

Fr. Ranly is fondly remembered in Colombia and in Peru, where he found a spiritual home in the rural villages high above the tree line in the Andes Mountains. He journeyed for days, often on foot, to reach the most remote of the communities in his care, said Fr. Tom Hemm, C.PP.S., his fellow Missionary, to whom Fr. Ranly was mentor, friend and guide.

"He used every means possible to bring the Good News to the people, whether by writing, preaching, or living example," Fr. Hemm said. "He was a real leader for our Congregation in the Latin American region."

Fr. Hemm remembers joining Fr. Ranly for a month-long mission in rural Peru in 1986, when Shining Path guerrillas made all travel in that area unsafe. "We went to the outlying communities that had been abandoned by their government and priests because the Shining Path had been threatening the lives of community and religious leaders," Fr. Hemm said. "Fr. Ernie was an inspiration to all of us. His confidence was in the power of the Blood to bring healing and strength to the people in a time of real crisis."

Fr. Ranly's survivors include three brothers and their spouses, Paul (Marie), Minster, Ohio; Orville (Alma), Philothea, Ohio; and Don (Joan), Columbia, Mo.; two sisters, Lucille Droesch, Maria Stein, Ohio; and Ella Mae (Ralph) Liette, Chickasaw; two sister-in-laws, Eileen Ranly, Maria Stein, and Rosemary Obringer, Coldwater, Ohio; and many nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews.

He was preceded in death by seven siblings, Alvina Klosterman, Norbert Ranly, Fr. Victor Ranly, C.PP.S., Hilda Obringer, Sr. Theresa Joseph Ranly, Arthur Ranly and Rita Flaute; and in-laws Walter Klosterman, Bernard Droesch, Ethel Ranly, Florus Obringer and Raymond Flaute.

A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Tuesday, November 22, at 2 p.m. in the Chapel of the Assumption at St. Charles Center, the Very Rev. Larry Hemmelgarn, C.PP.S., officiating. Fr. Ken Schroeder, C.PP.S., will be the homilist. Burial will follow in the Community cemetery.

Calling hours at St. Charles will be held from 1-5 and 7-9 p.m. Sunday, November 20, with a vigil service at 7 p.m., and Tuesday from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

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