Meet New Seminarian Ryan Jurden

Ryan is a parishioner of St. Mary, Delaware

Ryan Jurden began at the Pontifical College Josephinum in August, 2009. Ryan is from Delaware, Ohio. He attended Delaware St. Mary for 5th-8th grade and Delaware Public Schools. He was an altar server in 4th-8th grade and he was active in youth group. He attended college part time and worked after high school managing various businesses for about five years until he felt called to enter seminary.

Youth Group Core Team

From 2002-2009, Ryan has been on the Youth Group Core Team at Delaware St. Mary. He has also been an active member of a folk musical group at St. John Neumann in Sunbury. He plays guitar and sings.

Enjoys Photography

He calls himself a “tech geek” because he enjoys building web sites and working with computers. He also enjoys photography and hopes to have more time for that during the summer.

Pre-Discernment

Before entering seminary, Ryan was in a period of “pre-discernment” in which he prayed often and sought informal advice from a spiritual mentor.
“I knew that I felt like I was being called and I had been praying about it for a while,” said Ryan.
He investigated the role of the diocese in discernment, but he never actually visited seminary until he began at the Josephinum. “I could see that doors were being opened and these random things were happening in my life leading up to seminary. But maybe they are not random at all. People in my life kept encouraging me to consider the priesthood. Many priests offered encouragement,” said Ryan.
After meeting with the Vocations Director, Fr. Jeff Coning, he knew he would enter seminary.

Enjoying Seminary Life

He is enjoying his classes and describes them as challenging; his favorite class right now is Logic.
“I love seminary. Praying the Liturgy of the Hours in community is great. It gives a great routine to your day. I like a prayer routine,” said Ryan. “I am also happy with the brotherhood here. The guys are from all over the country, but they are all friends and they study, pray, and play football together.”

Looking Forward to Parish Life

Ryan is looking forward to becoming a parish priest. “I really feel called to diocesan priesthood,” said Ryan. “I waited a long time to get here. If someone asked me for advice, I would say that if a man is seriously considering seminary, don’t wait, go and check it out.