Rev. Noel Wall, 77, school principal

The Rev. Noel Wall, 77, a Franciscan priest who was principal from 1968 to 1978 at what was then Archbishop Ryan High School for Boys, died Sunday, Feb. 26, of complications from a brain aneurysm at Queen of Peace Friary in Burlington, Wis.

Father Wall was dean of students at Ryan from 1966, then chairman of the religion department, before heading the school.

He spent much of his post-Ryan career in Midwestern ministries.

Father Wall "was a very dynamic individual," the Rev. Rene Barczak, current alumni programs director at Ryan, recalled Tuesday.

"He was very direct in what he felt had to be done for the school. He listened to people, to their suggestions, and put them into his own planning. But he certainly had [his own] goal for Ryan."

It was during his time, Barczak said, that Ryan earned accreditation from the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

Barczak recalled going to Philadelphia Flyers games with Father Wall, who was team chaplain from 1966 to 1971.

And Father Wall was sites director at the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976, a job that, Barczak said, put him in charge of "who parked where, who came, at what time."

Born Bernard Waliczek in Chicago, Father Wall changed his name after joining the Franciscan religious order.

He entered a novitiate in Lake Geneva, Wis., in 1953 and, after completing college studies as a Franciscan, entered Christ the King Seminary in Chicago in 1957. He was ordained in 1961.

Father Wall came to Philadelphia in 1963, to work in the social studies department at the former Bishop Neumann High School. He was a volunteer with the Crime Prevention Association of Philadelphia.

He earned a master's degree in political science at Villanova University in 1966 and a master's in religious education at what is now La Salle University in 1968.

After leaving Archbishop Ryan in 1978, Father Wall became the retreat program coordinator at St. Francis Friary in Burlington, Wis., and, in 1981, pastor of St. Francis parish in Greenwood, Miss., before returning to the Midwest.

His last assignment was as director of pastoral care for Franciscan Village, a retirement community in Lemont, Ill., until 2007.

He is survived by a nephew and a niece.

A Memorial Mass was set for 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 20, in the auditorium at Archbishop Ryan High School.