Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div.,Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles Community John O’Donohue in Divine Beauty (2003) on True Community: “As in the rainforest where a dazzling diversity of life-forms complement and sustain each other, there is secret oxygen with which we unknowingly sustain one another. True community is not produced; it is…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Sister Marie Gangwish was a most enlightening mentor to me in the time I ministered in eastern Kentucky. Marie was a Sister of the Congregation of Divine Providence (CDP), Melbourne, Kentucky. While her community styled themselves among the pioneers of Catholic presence in the mountain counties of eastern Kentucky…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div.,Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles Community Today I plan to slide right on by the question of historical fact and “Did this really happen?” as we celebrate this Feast of Epiphany. We will not dwell on the stargazing puzzle of whether the Star in the East was possibly…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div.,Ph.D. Christmas is, at the level of human experience, fundamentally personal. I’m not talking theology, history, sociology, psychology or even philosophy. I’m talking practicality about Christmas Spirit and doing for others, acting for peace, and carrying out the work of justice. However, I would like to make the point that at its…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com I ran across Fons Trompenaars the other day. Fons, a native of Holland, is an organizational theorist, management consultant and creator of the Model of National Cultural Differences. He specializes in guiding corporations on getting things done from the standpoint of acknowledging and addressing multicultural differences. In this covid…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Co-pastor of Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles Community 2nd Sunday of Advent — December 6, 2020 You may be aware that the Prophet Isaiah was, along with being a prophet, a priest. His call was dual – the prophet speaking for God and the priest becoming one…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Not that anyone cares, but I will not read the McCarrick Report, not a synopsis, not an abstract, not an article about it, not one page, not one word. Get the picture? Who needs to fill one’s brain with one more piece of evidence about Roman Catholic Episcopal malfeasance…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com On this 34th and Final Sunday of the Year, Cycle A, I extend an invitation to consider the last 3 Gospels that have delivered this end – all of them taken from the 25th Chapter of Matthew. These 3 parables comprise the bulk of this chapter. First (32nd Sunday)…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com The leaves are fallen. Last week’s wind and rain put an end to them. The atmosphere has stabilized (for now) with an extended period of High Pressure and the Jet Stream has arced southward. That’s all the alert that cranes need. Two days this week at mid-day the sky…
Read more
Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Romano L. “Ron” Mazzoli represented the citizens of Louisville, Kentucky in Congress for 24 years, 1971-95. I was a “Friend of Ron.” Well, actually, many of us were “Friends of Ron.” This story, though, starts before I even knew that “Friends of Ron” existed, before I was proud to…
Read more
