“I love the Society’s faithfulness to following Jesus. In my superiors, mentors and spiritual directors, I have seen people who have been formed as disciples over many years and who exemplify what it means to be free in Jesus Christ and also to imitate Jesus’ total obedience to God’s will. The balance of freedom and obedience is the fruit of fidelity to Jesus.”
Will work in pastoral ministry at Holy Rosary Mission, the Oglala Lakota Catholic community of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Ryen Dwyer, SJ, was born in Cincinnati to Kevin and Abigail Dwyer. At age 7, his family moved to southwest Michigan, where he was raised in the Christian Reformed Church. He attended St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland, where he studied liberal arts as part of a Great Books program. During his studies, Ryen encountered sacred Catholic choral music and Catholic authors such as St. Augustine, which sparked an attraction to the Catholic Church. After graduating, he moved to Evanston, Illinois, where he worked at Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit fair-trade retailer. During this time, Ryen entered the Catholic Church at St. Nicholas Parish in Evanston, a faith community in which he was introduced to and fell in love with the Catholic faith, particularly the church’s spiritual tradition, sacramental imagination and rich history of social action.
He entered the Jesuits in 2013 at the Jesuit Novitiate in St. Paul, Minnesota. Particularly memorable from his time in the novitiate was a 30-day pilgrimage, when he traveled through northwestern New Mexico, including spending some time with the Missionaries of Charity in Gallup. After taking his first vows in 2015, Ryen studied social philosophy at Loyola University Chicago and volunteered with the Ignatian Spirituality Project, which offers retreats to people recovering from homelessness and addiction. In 2018, Ryen began his regency at Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. There, he served as coordinator of the Red Cloud Volunteer Program, a rich experience of accompanying young adults in their dedicated service as teachers and bus drivers. In 2021, Ryen moved to Berkeley, California, where he completed a Master of Divinity degree at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University and served as a catechist and later a deacon at St. Mary Magdalen Parish. After ordination, he will work in pastoral ministry at Holy Rosary Mission, the Oglala Lakȟóta Catholic community of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.
Bachelor’s degree, liberal arts, St. John’s College, Annapolis; Master’s degree, social philosophy, Loyola University Chicago; Master of Divinity, Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University
