In Rev John J Ruddy the priesthood of the Roman Catholic church has a member who for nearly four decades has devoted his life to the service of the church. He is a native of Pennsylvania, has made that state the field of his labors and has produced therefrom wonderful fruits for Christianity and his church. He was born in Hawley, Wayne county, Pennsylvania, 24 Nov 1850, and was reared in Scranton. Educated for the ministry of the Roman Catholic church, he was ordained in 1877. From that time until the present the story of his life is one of continuous service, first for twenty years in the western part of Pennsylvania, and since 1899 in Scranton, Hyde Park, Ashley, Parson and Dunmore, in which last-named place he is now located. His pastorates have all been successful one, marked by an increase in spiritual and material welfare in the congregations to which he has ministered, and in his service in Dunmore a past of achievement leads to a future of promise, to be fulfilled under his leadership.