Father Brogan Ryan, CSC, has spent most of his 2 ½ years as a priest dealing with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on college students. He says that although it’s been a difficult time, it’s also resulted in a greater recognition by those students of the importance of certain things the Church uniquely provides.
“The pandemic has resulted in a great sense of uncertainty, isolation, separation and destruction among young people,” he said. “But it also appears to have planted seeds of greater appreciation of their desire for the physical presence of the sacraments and created a deeper longing for community.
“I was at Notre Dame when the pandemic first hit in mid-March of 2020 and caused the closing of the campus for the rest of the 2019-2020 school year. When students came back after a few weeks to pick up their belongings, I heard over and over that they didn’t have access to the Church in their home communities and just wanted a chance to receive Communion or go to confession.
“When the students came back in the fall, there was a return to in-person learning, but there were plenty of restrictions, with safe-distancing and mask requirements in place, no visitors allowed in residence halls, and Sunday Masses celebrated campuswide in a concert hall rather than in dormitory chapels. It was difficult, but we adapted throughout the year to meet students’ needs while complying with restrictions.
“At times, it made me feel like a missionary, even at a place where Catholicism is seen everywhere,” he said. “I wouldn’t choose to go through the COVID experience again, but it gave me a great perspective on the meaning of the faith in people’s lives.”
Father Ryan, 36, the son of Bob and Mary Ginn Ryan of Columbus St. Catharine Church, was ordained as a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross on April 27, 2019 at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, from which he received bachelor’s and master’s degrees and where he studied theology before his ordination.
He was rector of Notre Dame’s Keough Hall dormitory for one year as a deacon and two years as a priest before beginning service this fall as campus ministry director at King’s College in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, which, like Notre Dame, is led by the Holy Cross Fathers.
King’s was founded in 1946 to serve the children of coal miners in what then was northeastern Pennsylvania’s dominant industry. The college has about 2,000 students, mostly from Wilkes-Barre and surrounding communities. Notre Dame was founded in 1842, has nearly 9,000 students from throughout the nation and the world and has one of the nation’s most well-known athletics programs.
“There are obvious differences between the two institutions, but my ministry to college students is the same,” Father Ryan said. “At Notre Dame, I was pastor to the students in one dormitory, with other priests, deacons and brothers doing the same in the other dorms on what was mostly a residential campus.
“At King’s, I serve the whole campus and have a great opportunity to know lots of students from the entire school, many of whom are commuters. I’ve spent most of my five months here getting to know the students, celebrating daily and Sunday Masses and leading retreats and prayer services.
”Now that I’ve been a priest for a little while, I’ve become more aware than ever of how God has been good to me,” he said. “I’ve also become more appreciative of the deep goodness of people and of their generosity, openness and support.
“This is a tough time to live as a person of faith, not just for a priest but for anyone, because of the sense of distrust and brokenness that’s all around, with COVID adding to this. I was ordained right into that reality of that cross. I feel really blessed that I was ordained before COVID and was able to experience a full and joy-filled church at the time of my ordination.”
After receiving a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Notre Dame, Father Ryan taught at a Catholic school in Alabama for two years, working there with the university’s Alliance for Catholic Education program and earning a master’s degree in education from Notre Dame. He then returned to Columbus and worked for an accounting firm for two years.
“I felt a sense of unrest, that God had something else in mind for me” during his time as a teacher and an accountant, he said. After entering the Congregation of Holy Cross in August 2012, “it didn’t take me long to realize God had been inviting me to serve Him as a priest and that the Holy Cross community, which works together, prays together and supports one another, was where I belonged.”
Father Ryan was in Columbus for about a week during the holiday break and celebrated Mass at St. Catharine, his home parish, on Sunday, Dec. 26. One of his major influences on the way to the priesthood was Msgr. David Sorohan, the parish’s pastor for 16 years, who died on Christmas Day last year at age 86.
“I wasn’t able to come back for the funeral but watched it on livestream video,” he said. “I felt a sadness and a hope at the same time, as I knew God was saying to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant’ and that Msgr. Sorohan would be praying for me from his new home.”
Father Ryan is one of 11 children. His twin brother, Brendan, also studied for the priesthood but discerned after four years in seminary that his calling was elsewhere. He is a math teacher at Cincinnati St. Xavier High School. Another brother, Michael, is in his third year of graduate theology studies at Notre Dame and is anticipating ordination to the priesthood in spring 2024.
Asked to define what it means to be a priest, Father Ryan said, “A priest is someone who helps others encounter the living God through the sacraments, preaching, prayer, community and pastoral care. It is a deep, deep privilege to be able to share in so many moments of people’s lives and remind them that God is there, too.”