Journeys Home
embarrassment to the
school of which I was chaplain. Each week for months, we drove
to another city to spend an evening in instruction by a Benedictine
monk whose friendship has been a rich blessing to us. With his
help, I began seeking employment to support our family.
    We knew that God never leads anyone down a blind alley. We cast
ourselves as completely as possible upon His mercy. Then doors
began to open, and the way became clearer.
    The day we were received into the Church, Ruth and I wanted to
have a party in our home. The problem was that we had no one to
invite. Our Episcopal friends were either greatly saddened or
resentful. We did not know any Catholics.
    Even so, we had our party: Ruth and I, our children, the two priests
who received us, and -- Ruth reminded us -- the angels and archangels.
    On the third day after our family was received into the Church,
I went to early Mass in our parish church. As I knelt in the pew
after receiving Communion, the words suddenly came to me, half-aloud,
in a burst of joy: "Now I'm ready to die!"
    For the next seven years, I was a layman in the Church. During
that time, we moved to Milwaukee, where I completed course work
for a doctorate in theology. Back in Oklahoma, I taught and worked
for the diocesan educational department and completed my dissertation.
    Then came a move to San Diego to join the theological faculty
of a Catholic university. While teaching fulltime, I was ordained
a permanent deacon in the Church and entered law school at night.
    Several years after passing the bar, I was preparing to begin
part-time practice, which I intended would become fulltime after
I stopped teaching. Then the Church announced the Pastoral Provision
for this country. Under its terms, married Catholic laymen who
had formerly been Episcopal clergy were allowed to apply through
their bishops for a dispensation from the rule of celibacy and
for ordination to the priesthood.
    My application was the first to be sent to Rome, though it was
not the first one acted on. Thirteen months later, my bishop received
a letter from then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict
XVI), telling him the Holy Father (Pope John Paul II) had approved
my being ordained. Several months later, after a series of written
and oral exams, I was ordained to the priesthood. That was in
1983.
    Each time I stand at the altar, at least once the thought suddenly
comes, "Can this be real? Am I a Catholic priest, offering the
Holy Sacrifice?" Then comes that blessed answer: "Yes! Thanks
be to God!"
    Father Ray Ryland, Ph.D., J.D., is a former minister of the Episcopal
Church. In 1963 he was received with his wife, Ruth (see the following chapter), and their five children into the Catholic Church. Twenty years later, he was ordained to the priesthood of the Catholic
Church, with a dispensation from the rule of celibacy. Currently, he serves
as chaplain for Catholics United for the Faith and the Coming
Home Network International, and on the boards of both those apostolates.
He is also a regular columnist for The Catholic Answer Magazine,
and he serves as an assistant at St. Peter's Church in Steubenville,
Ohio.
    This story was originally published in This Rock Magazine, January 1995.

I NEVER DREAMED I'D BE MARRIED TO A CATHOLIC PRIEST! -- RUTH RYLAND
    former Episcopal priest's wife
    In an earlier chapter of this book, Marilyn Grodi said that she
never had wanted to marry a minister anyway. Well, I certainly
never dreamed I'd be married to a Catholic priest!
    The thirteen years my husband Ray served as an Episcopal priest
were exciting, fulfilling years. We had both come from a Disciples
of Christ background, and we found the intellectual and liturgical
ethos of the Episcopal Church very satisfying. Our five children
came along during that period.
    We loved the people in the various parishes and the school where
Ray served. The people were great, good people who struggled along
with us to live the Christian life. There were,

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