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By John Dougherty
Fr. Gerard Ryan, SJ, wants you to know that you are not alone. This is not merely a nice sentiment: Addressing loneliness is the core of his academic work. “In my own modest way, I want my work to give voice to this profound pastoral suffering and to challenge the imaginations of those who read and engage my research,” he says. “My hope is to suggest, gently but insistently, that another response is possible — one rooted in solidarity, care, and the conviction that no child, and no person, should be left alone in their suffering.”
A Call to Encounter Others
Originally from Tipperary, Ireland, Gerard Ryan first discovered his Jesuit vocation during a summer placement at L’Arche Daybreak in Richmond Hill, Ontario. He loved the work and remained there for three and a half years, during which Fr. Ron Mercier, SJ — at the time the Dean of Regis College — served as his spiritual director. Through their meetings, he discerned a call to religious life and entered the Jesuits in 2002.
He now serves at Regis College and the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology at University of Toronto. He is, among other things, an Assistant Professor of Political Theology, and he holds the Scarborough Missions Chair in Interreligious Dialogue. He also accompanies students as degree director for professional ministerial programs, attending to both their academic and ministerial development.
“Fr. Ryan is exceptional at fostering community among our students, demonstrating a genuine interest in each person’s joys and hopes and a compassion that affirms his belief in their being an image of God,” said Dr. Jaroslav Skira, Dean of the Regis St. Michael’s Faculty of Theology. He has known Ryan since he was a student at Regis and considers him a colleague and a friend.
“Fr. Ryan’s firm grounding in Ignatian spirituality informs his commitments to social justice and the affirmation of human dignity, both in his excellent academic work and in his ministries,” he said. “His intellectual pursuits engage culture and interdisciplinary dialogue, manifesting some of the best hallmarks of Jesuit education.”
“My vocation calls me to be a witness to inclusivity, to belonging, and to the inherent dignity of every person,” Fr. Ryan says. He hopes that his work will “loosen the grip of shame and silence that so often surrounds this experience and open pathways toward hope.”
“My vocation calls me to be a witness to inclusivity, to belonging, and to the inherent dignity of every person.” – Gerard Ryan, SJ
Searching for the Roots of Loneliness
Much of Fr. Ryan’s academic work involves recognition theory and its relation to theology. Recognition, he explains, is “a dynamic, relational practice that unfolds between persons.” It goes beyond “acknowledgment” — that is, the simple ways in which we engage with one another each day — and “involves a deeper posture of esteem and appreciation for the other as other.” This recognition stems from each person’s essential, God-given dignity.
That may sound basic, but, Fr. Ryan says, it is dangerously diminished in today’s world. “Structures of power, experiences of disrespect, forms of exclusion, and patterns of violence have dulled our intuitive disposition toward relationality — our basic human desire to be with one another, to belong, and to be mutually present.” Recognition, he continues, invites us “not only to see the other, but to remain with them, to honor their vulnerability, and to recognize, within that encounter, the presence of God.”
Loneliness has reached epidemic levels in recent years. A 2021 report from Statistics Canada found that 1 in 10 people aged 15 or older “always or often felt lonely.”
Loneliness is not just a feeling but, as Fr. Ryan says, “an urgent pastoral and ethical call.” Inspired by the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic and supported by two grants from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Fr. Ryan’s research explores the impact of loneliness on individuals and communities with an eye toward helping faith communities respond with greater understanding and sensitivity. “I seek to make public the rich resources within theology and religious traditions that can contribute to the formation of more resilient, empathetic, and hospitable societies — societies in which loneliness is not a source of shame but a shared human condition that can be named, accompanied, and addressed.”
“Loneliness is fundamentally a question of solidarity — solidarity with every human person,” Fr. Ryan says. “It asks us to imagine a world in which human formation unfolds within networks of loving relationships, genuine friendship, and the fragile yet sustaining knowledge that we are held by God, together.”
The topic has societal, as well as individual, implications. “When young children in Gaza, young children in Sudan, young children in Haiti, and young children in Ukraine are exposed to ecological devastation, entrenched poverty, war, and widespread destruction — whether through climate change or through humanity’s inhumanity to itself — the experience is not only material deprivation,” Fr. Ryan explains. “It is also, inevitably, an experience of abandonment, and the deep loneliness that follows from being made to feel forgotten by the world.”
“Ultimately, this work is about helping individuals and communities to cultivate relationships marked by love, empathy, and mutual recognition and to grow into forms of belonging that enable both personal and communal transformation.”
Jesuit retreat centers are places where we can deepen our relationships with God and others
