John Hynes, 66, crusader in Catholic laity organization

Such was his love of the church that it didn’t surprise those who knew Mr. Hynes when he became involved with Voice of the Faithful during the clergy sex abuse crisis and rose to leadership positions as the laity organization worked to give parishioners a stronger voice in church matters, including the extensive church closings of the past several years.

“We are not going away,’’ he told the Globe in May 2004, on behalf of the group, when the Archdiocese of Boston was about to announce a list of parish closings. “This is our church and we have a right to a role in its governance and we plan to exercise that right.’’

Mr. Hynes, who lived in Canton and was the first to chair the Boston Area Council of Voice of the Faithful, collapsed Tuesday in his car, which was parked outside a drugstore in Quincy.

He was 66 and his family is awaiting test results to determine why he died.

“He was one of the best leaders I’ve met in all my life,’’ said Darrell Simpson of Wayland, a former steering committee member and regional manager for Voice of the Faithful who worked with Mr. Hynes to establish affiliates at many parishes. “I think John had the knack of inspiring people through his leadership, through his speech. People would volunteer because of John. He had a spirit about himself, and the honesty showed through.’’

That trait was born of a life that knew hardship and perseverance, particularly during his early years growing up in Dorchester and Milton.

“The most important thing was our faith,’’ said Mr. Hynes’s sister, Maureen, who still lives in Milton. “Our parents were immigrants from Ireland. Faith has carried us through then and it will get me and the rest of my family through this.’’

Their father was diagnosed with leukemia when Maureen was 7 and John was 5, and died two years later.

Their mother, a nurse who cared for tuberculosis patients in Boston, took the children to visit relatives in Galway, Ireland, and considered returning permanently.

“Most of her family was in Ireland,’’ Maureen said, “but we had more opportunities here.’’

Those opportunities included the schools the children attended.

Mr. Hynes went to St. Gregory Elementary School in Dorchester and graduated in 1961 from Catholic Memorial High School in West Roxbury.

He went to Stonehill College, a Catholic institution in Easton, where he studied accounting and business, graduating in 1965.

“I remember he really liked philosophy,’’ his sister said. “He could have had a double major. We came from a family with an uncle who was a priest, and two first cousins. There was a lot of talk about church and philosophy.’’

After college, Mr. Hynes started graduate studies, then opted to work for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“That’s where I met him,’’ said his wife, Deborah.

Mr. Hynes began as an administrator in the university’s Office of Sponsored Programs and moved to the nuclear engineering area, where he met Deborah Welsh, who was working in the department. They married in 1982.

He went on to serve as an administrator in other areas of MIT, including the Media Lab, during a career that spanned 44 years.

Although he retired four years ago, Mr. Hynes continued to work for MIT a few days a week on a contract basis.

Those years at a prestigious university prepared him for dealings with powerful officials in the Boston Archdiocese when he became involved with Voice of the Faithful.

“He worked at MIT, but he was down to earth,’’ Simpson said. “He grew up in Dorchester and Milton, so he was city-smart, city-wise. I think that’s why he related so well to people. He related to the higher-ups because of his work at MIT and could relate to the bishops we met, but he related to everyone else, too.’’

Church, meanwhile, remained at the center of his life, second only to family. He encouraged his children, Erin of Orlando, Fla., and Sean of Canton, to remain similarly devout.

“I remember growing up, church was something I just did every Sunday,’’ Sean said, adding with a chuckle that “when I got into my teenage years, I wanted to rebel a little, but no matter [what] I had going on in my life, I knew if I told my father I wasn’t going to church, it wasn’t going to be a pretty picture.’’

When the clergy sex abuse scandal became public, Mr. Hynes was drawn to Voice of the Faithful, for which he wrote a guide for forming parish chapters.

He showed the way at home.

The Hynes children also became involved with church and Voice of the Faithful, too, by volunteering.

“This is a chance for us to come together as a community and show that prayer can make a difference, to use prayer to touch the victims of the tragedy,’’ Erin told the Globe in 2002 during a prayer vigil in St. Gerard Majella for victims of sexually abusive priests.

“When everything was going on, I had conversations with him. I have a lot of friend who aren’t Catholic, and I said, ‘Dad, why should I not leave the Catholic Church?’ He said the church is a place where we all grew up and the support system he’s had and we’ve all had at St. Gerard’s has been unbelievable for us. Just because one part of the church is broken doesn’t mean we have to give up on it. He wanted to be part of change and make sure other people had the same opportunities that he had. Somebody’s got to step up.’’

A funeral Mass was said yesterday for Mr. Hynes on what would have been his 28th wedding anniversary. Burial was in Canton Corner Cemetery in Canton, a town he called home for as long as he was married.

“When I tell people he’s gone they’re shocked,’’ Simpson said. “I tell them, there’s silence, they don’t know what to say. It’s a great loss. Not having John around leaves a huge void.’’

Bryan Marquard can be reached at bmarquard@globe.com.