Rev. Jim Ryan, Ph.D. The ambitions of my Father were directed toward his children. In some circles, spiritually generated ambition is either nonexistent or unknown – or both. Rather than ambition that covets position, money, and power, my father took another path. Dad’s ambitions consisted of a belief in the servant life that draws on…
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Chicago, epicenter of modern Catholic Social Teaching Rev. Jim Ryan, Ph.D. Pope Leo XIV’s Chicago pedigree is well known and well established. He was born in Bronzeville on the South Side, not far from Hyde Park where he would attend and graduate from Catholic Theological Union (CTU) in 1982. His family moved to Dolton, Illinois…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog: Apostolic Times, https://maryofmagdala-mke.org/ Homily thoughts – 3rd Sunday of Easter – April 19, 2026 The disciples who recognize Jesus as he breaks bread with them could have stayed in Emmaus, since that was apparently their destination. They already had so much to recount to the folks at…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog, Apostolic Times: https://maryofmagdala-mke.org Springtime in eastern Kentucky is intoxicating (that is, apart from the moonshine). My first experience of this came in the Spring of 1980, having arrived in the mountains in the Fall of 1979 which required me to wait until the next Spring for this…
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Who’s the man? Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog: https://maryofmagdala-mke.org/blog Homily thoughts – 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time – February 1, 2026 To me, there exists no clearer teaching of Jesus on how to put into practice his command of Love than the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). The centerpiece of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s Cost of…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog: https://maryofmagdala-mke.org/blog Introduction for Passionist alums. Many will recall the third-floor porch of the Louisville monastery. Some of us will remember it as our bedroom from mid-Spring into late fall, or, roughly, Easter to Advent, for several years, let’s say 1966-1970. The dozen of us – a…
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What’s so great about the 1950s? Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog: https://maryofmagdala-mke.org/blog Patrick J. Deneen, a political philosopher from Notre Dame, who announced the death of liberalism in his 2018 book, “Why Liberalism Failed” has proceeded to speculate upon that which best remedies the loss of liberalism’s unrealized promises. You can find…
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Emmanuel: God with us – God within us Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog: https://maryofmagdala-mke.org/blog By the time Jesus was born the title, “Emmanuel,” had lived in the psyche and history of the Jewish people for 700 years. The first time it occurs is during the reign of King Ahaz and the ministry…
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First Christmas, 1974 Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Community blog: https://maryofmagdala-mke.org/blog The young associate Pastor’s first Christmas, St. Gemma Church, Detroit Advent, 1974 was my first season of liturgical anticipation at St. Gemma’s Parish. Going on four months into that initial year of ministry, the timing for settling in seemed just about right. All…
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The Cross of Irony Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com First thoughts on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross When it comes to the Cross, it seems to me, we have lived through a seismic shift that began with a view of exclusion and pious practices. Back when the Roman Church held that…
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