As required by Canon Law on his 75th birthday, Monterey Bishop Sylvester Ryan will offer his resignation from office to the Holy Father on Sept. 3. The letter is being sent to Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, who will forward it to Pope Benedict XVI and the Congregation for Bishops in Rome. The process for appointing a bishop can take six to eight months during which time Bishop Ryan will continue to administer the Monterey Diocese as the process for identifying his successor moves forward.

A native of Avalon, California, Bishop Ryan earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from St. John's Seminary in Camarillo in 1953 and was ordained to the priesthood May 3, 1957. He served in a variety of pastoral settings in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles including parishes, high schools and colleges during which time he earned a master's degree in Religious Education from Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles in 1971. He served as rector of St. John's Seminary from 1986 to 1990. He was ordained a bishop May 31, 1990, and installed as Bishop of Monterey on March 19, 1992.

Bishop Ryan also has chaired the bishops' Ad Hoc Committee on Stewardship for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and he served as president of the California Catholic Conference from October 1997 to April 2004.