\u201cBishop Ricard faithfully served the Catholic Church for decades through his ministry as a Josephite priest, counselor, educator, pastor, bishop, humanitarian and leader,\u201d the statement said. \u201cHe devoted his life to the proclamation of the Gospel, humanitarian efforts worldwide, the mission of the Josephite Society, and the pastoral care of God\u2019s people, especially within Black Catholic communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
People who knew Bishop Ricard on a personal level recalled his kindness, his sense of humor and his approachability.<\/p>\n
\u2018Would give you the shirt off his back\u2019<\/p>\n
A\u2019dell Lee, a parishioner of New All Saints in Liberty Heights who served as Bishop Ricard\u2019s senior administrator at the Josephites for more than a decade, described him as the kind of person who \u201cwould give you the shirt off his back.\u201d<\/p>\n
She recalled one time when he went across the street to his doctor\u2019s office when it was cold and snowing, and he met a homeless man. After his appointment, he came back and got his tennis shoes from under his bed.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe put them in a bag, and he walked them across the street (and gave them) to the gentleman on the bench who had no shoes,\u201d Lee told the Catholic Review, Baltimore\u2019s archdiocesan news outlet.<\/p>\n
Then-Father Ricard, 44, was pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Washington when he was named a bishop and appointed auxiliary of Baltimore. The priest was pouring concrete when he got the news, according to Josephite Father Donald Fest. After the call, the pastor went back and finished the job, Father Fest said.<\/p>\n
Had a \u2018sense of doing the job\u2019<\/p>\n
He had a \u201csense of doing the job,\u201d said Father Fest, a former longtime pastor of St. Veronica in Baltimore\u2019s Cherry Hill neighborhood and currently pastor of St. Joseph in Alexandria, Virginia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Baltimore, he was in great demand,\u201d Father Fest said. \u201cYou wanted to hear Bishop Ricard. He was youthful. He was congenial and approachable.\u201d<\/p>\n
People wanted him \u201cany time you needed a bishop\u201d for a significant parish occasion, he said.<\/p>\n
![\"Bishop](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/OSVNews_Image_The-Bulletin_20260521T1654-OBIT-BISHOP-RICARD-18201041.jpg\")
Bishop John H. Ricard, pictured in a 2023 photo, died May 20, 2026, at age 86. He was the first Black bishop to be an auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Baltimore (1984 to 1997) and to head the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida (1997-2011). He was elected superior general of the Josephites in 2019 and reelected in 2023. (OSV News photo\/Mihoko Owada, Catholic Standard)<\/p>\n
Shortly after he was named to Baltimore, Bishop Ricard was speaking out on national issues, often tying them to the local community. In 1985, Bishop Ricard wrote to Baltimore Jewish leaders deploring remarks by Louis Farrakhan, a Black Muslim leader; the bishop called the remarks anti-Jewish.<\/p>\n
As urban vicar of Baltimore, Bishop Ricard was responsible for parishes within the city. In 1996, he and a committee of suburban and urban pastors initiated a project to encourage Catholics in the Baltimore metropolitan area to look at social and economic issues \u2014 such as white flight \u2014 from a regional and faith perspective.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Official electoral observer in South Africa<\/p>\n
During the first free elections in South Africa following the collapse of apartheid, Bishop Ricard served as an official electoral observer in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, April 26-29, 1994. In a 2013 interview<\/a> with the Catholic Review, he called it a \u201cgreat, life-changing experience\u201d to witness thousands of South Africans of all races vote.<\/p>\n Bishop Ricard credited Nelson Mandela, the man South Africans elected as their president, for being a driving force behind making the historic election possible and for overseeing a peaceful political transition.<\/p>\n While in Baltimore, Bishop Ricard had been active in the anti-apartheid movement, participating in prayer vigils and anti-apartheid planning sessions in Baltimore and Washington.<\/p>\n Bishop Ricard served on the Baltimore-based Catholic Relief Services<\/a> board of directors as treasurer from 1992 to 1995 before being named president and chairman in December 1995. He served two consecutive three-year terms in that position.<\/p>\n When he was appointed president, he told the Catholic Review the causes of poverty, homelessness and hunger overseas or in Baltimore were similar. He said in all cases, they rob people of their self-worth and dignity.<\/p>\n Helping people discover their strengths<\/p>\n The solution, too, was similar, he said: helping people discover their own strengths and capabilities and putting tools in their hands to develop education and skills for work.<\/p>\n John Huston Ricard was born Feb. 29, 1940, in New Roads, Louisiana; he was one of eight children. He attended parochial elementary and high schools in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and attended Epiphany College in Newburgh, New York, and St. Joseph Seminary in Washington.<\/p>\n He was ordained a Josephite priest in 1968 and, in 2018, when the society celebrated 125 years of ministry, he told the Catholic Review he chose to join the society<\/a> because he saw the Josephites as \u201cunselfish men who served the African American community, often at the risk of ostracizing themselves from other priests and other Catholics.\u201d<\/p>\n In 1970, then-Father Ricard earned a master\u2019s degree from Tulane University in New Orleans; in 1984 he earned a doctorate from The Catholic University of America, Washington.<\/p>\n \u00a0He was an associate professor at Tulane University, 1970-71, and an adjunct associate professor at Catholic University, 1973-80. He also was consultor general for the Josephite Fathers, 1978-81. He was associate pastor at St. Peter Claver Church in New Orleans and pastor at three parishes in Washington before he was named an auxiliary bishop for Baltimore in 1984.<\/p>\n Racial issues and urban shootings<\/p>\n As president of the National Black Catholic Congress<\/a> and head of the Josephites, Bishop Ricard served on a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops<\/a> task force to deal with racial issues brought into public consciousness following a series of urban shootings in 2016 that left both citizens and police officers among those dead.<\/p>\n![\"Bishop](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/20260521T1654-OBIT-BISHOP-RICARD-1820105-1024x697.jpg\")
Bishop John H. Ricard, pictured in a 2003 photo, died May 20, 2026, at age 86. He was the first Black bishop to be an auxiliary of the Archdiocese of Baltimore (1984 to 1997) and to head the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee, Florida (1997-2011). He was elected superior general of the Josephites in 2019 and reelected in 2023. (OSV News photo\/Paul Haring)<\/p>\n