The Rev. Regis Ryan went out of town a few weeks ago.

Big mistake.

The directors of Focus on Renewal, the McKees Rocks health and social service agency he leads, held a special executive meeting while he was gone.

"When I got back, they said, 'Guess what we did while you were away?' " Father Ryan said.

They had launched a fund-raising effort to buy naming rights to the cultural and arts center they are building in McKees Rocks. That way, they could name it themselves instead of letting a donor choose.

The name they intend? The Regis Ryan Cultural and Arts Center.

"I always said you should never name anything after anyone until they're dead," Father Ryan grumbled last week, before admitting -- after a bit of goading -- that the naming effort was a "great compliment."

"It's nice to be appreciated," he said, "though usually I just assume that I am until someone yells at me."

The center, which is under construction in the former Desks Inc. store on Chartiers Avenue, will provide a venue for art, music dance and theater classes. Part of the funding for it came from the Sanders decree, court-ordered restitution for discrimination in public housing, with the rest coming from foundations and other donations. It's still about six months and $1 million from completion, but is close enough to have the community excited.

The "Friends of Father Ryan" hope to raise half of that shortfall to secure the naming rights for the man who started the project. It's an arbitrary figure, for sure -- it's Focus on Renewal's project, and they can choose any name for it-- but "we feel the building is worth that, and $500,000 was the price tag we put on it when we were marketing it," arts center Executive Director Pat Moran said.

Ms. Moran said no one person can take credit for the idea of naming the center for Father Ryan -- it just sort of arose as volunteers were talking. They'd had no takers for naming rights, and honoring Father Ryan seemed natural.

The volunteers approached her and other administrators "quietly, so Father Ryan wouldn't know about it," and the administrators waited for him to leave town before putting the proposal before the Focus on Renewal board of directors, Ms. Moran said.

It's an honor three decades in the making. Father Ryan arrived in St. Francis de Sales parish as a young priest and oversaw the growth of Focus on Renewal. The group previously built a medical center and a library in McKees Rocks and serves the needy through a variety of programs.

Those involved say the credit all goes straight back to Father Ryan.

"He's just a natural person to fight for the things people should have in a community," longtime friend and F.O.R. volunteer Frank Koger said. He laughed about the times Father Ryan got dragged out of borough council meetings for making trouble over some wrong he saw.

Board member Sandy Wolf noted his years of dedication, and said his "tenacity" is an inspiration. "Everything about his personality gives you the desire to go on," she said.

"It's pretty humbling," Father Ryan said. "There are so many people who do so much work; I may be the face out front that everyone sees, but there are a lot of people involved.

That may be true, others said, but many of those people are involved because of Father Ryan.

"People are just naturally magnetized to him," Mr. Koger said.

Ms. Moran said the campaign has netted about $50,000 so far. It has two tiers of giving: one aimed at the kind of working-class people who have benefited from Father Ryan's efforts and another for those who have more to give.

She also thinks it's appropriate at this point in his career.

"It's our sense that this is his last big project in the region," Ms. Moran said. "It would be a wonderful legacy for him."