Ryan O’Hara

I literally grew up in Church, but it took quite a while for the truths of the Catholic Church to grow up in me. 

My mom was a liturgist and played the organ at Mass two to three times each Sunday, and I would often sit next to her in the choir loft as she accompanied the hymns and prayers of the liturgy. My dad was a devout Catholic but had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s when I was five years old.  

Coming to understand and embrace God as Father was complicated and difficult to experience as the roles were reversed throughout my childhood with my earthly dad. Following Jesus was relegated to Sunday mass attendance and not until my early 20s as a Catholic Campus Minister did I first hear “that there is a holy Spirit.” Acts 19:2

My relationship with God was part of my life, but didn’t become the center of my life until college.  For most of my four years on campus at William Jewell College, bad grades, bad beer and bad relationships dominated, but after many unrequited invites to a Bible study I finally said “yes” to going on a Christian retreat.  It was there that I heard the ‘greatest commandment’ preached; that I ought to “love God with all my heart, mind, soul and strength”.  This truth resonated deeply. And it changed my relationship with God forever. With eyes opened and heart wide I joined a weekly men’s group, began praying daily, and returned to the grace and goodness of the Eucharist and Confession.  

The gifts of a renewed spiritual life led me to hear and respond to a call from Jesus who spoke clearly to my heart, that “your life will be ministry”.  What has followed since that fateful day during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics has been exactly that - a lifelong call to serve the Church as a missionary disciple. 

First, I began a 25 year career serving college students as a Catholic Campus Minister at University of Missouri where I met and married my wife, Jill.  We believed God brought us together to be on mission and to bring as many souls to Jesus as possible. Second, through many twists and turns, including a diagnosis of infertility and welcoming foster kids into our home, we became forever parents to four incredible boys.   Third, as the boys became high school students and young adults we have continued to welcome and support kids and families in crisis, opening our home to young moms, and other teenagers and young adults, disconnected from family, looking for a place to lay their head. All glory to God!