Vincent Ryan no longer a priest

Vincent Ryan worked in the Hunter region for decades.(Fairfax Media)

The 82-year-old walked free on parole last month; he had served less than half of a three-year sentence relating to two altar boys. He had previously spent 14 years in prison for abusing more than 30 boys. The Catholic Bishop of Maitland-Newcastle, Bill Wright, had been pressed to reveal what steps he had taken to ask Pope Francis to remove Ryan from the priesthood. The 82-year-old can no longer dress in clerical garb or identify himself as a priest.