01
Philosophy
Sacred Heart Seminary, Chennai. The first years of priestly formation.
Archdiocese of Madras–Mylapore
A life given to the Gospel,
a mind given to the Spirit.
Rev. Fr. Bosco Antony Ryan is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Madras–Mylapore and a Teacher of Catholic Faith, who for more than a decade has handed on the Church's inner life to seminarians, religious and lay students across South India.
Ordained 6 April 2002 Doctorate in Theology, 2011 Specialisation in Spirituality
2002
Ordained a Priest
12
Years of Teaching
11
Courses Taught
4
Published Works
The Priest
Thirty years in the service of the altar and the lecture hall.
Fr. Bosco entered Sacred Heart Seminary, Chennai, in 1997, and was ordained to the sacred priesthood on 6 April 2002. What followed was not a turning away from the parish but a deepening of it: a licentiate and then a doctorate in spirituality, so that what he had received at the altar could be given again in the classroom.
His scholarly life has had one steady companion — St. John Henry Newman. His licentiate examined Newman's spirituality and its relevance to contemporary life; his doctorate set Newman's conversion beside that of St. Paul. Both studies ask the same question a priest asks at every confession: how does God turn a human heart, and what does that turning look like afterwards?
Formed in the Sacred Heart
Everything begins at the Heart of Christ.
He was formed for the priesthood at Sacred Heart Seminary in Chennai — philosophy, then theology, then ordination — and the devotion that gave that house its name has never left his teaching. The spirituality he lectures on is not an abstraction. It is the slow work of a heart being conformed to another Heart.
It is why his doctorate turned on conversion: on Paul thrown to the ground outside Damascus, and on Newman kneeling in a Littlemore cottage. Grace does not argue a person into the Church. It finds them.
“Cor ad cor loquitur — heart speaks unto heart.”The motto of St. John Henry Newman
Formation & Studies
From the seminary gate to the doctoral desk
Fourteen years of formal study, pursued without ever stepping away from priestly ministry.
02
Theology
Sacred Heart Seminary, Chennai, concluding in ordination on 6 April 2002.
03
Licentiate
Masters in Theology, specialising in Spirituality, at St. Peter's Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru.
04
Doctorate
Doctorate in Theology, specialising in Spirituality, at St. Peter's Pontifical Institute, Bengaluru.
The Book
Seminal Conversion Experience of Paul and Newman
A comparison of the two conversions that have shaped Western Christianity more than any others, and an argument for what they still have to say to Catholic spirituality today. Drawn from the doctoral research he completed at St. Peter's Pontifical Institute in 2011.
Delhi: Christian World Prints, 2021.
In Pictures
A priest among his people
At the altar, in the classroom, and in the homes of those he serves — on two continents.
Ministry
Three rooms of one vocation
The Classroom
Teaching
Twelve years and eleven courses, from the Trinity to the New Age Movement.
The Desk
Writing & Research
A book, three journal articles, and a continuing study of Newman.
The Pulpit
Preaching & Seminars
Homilies, retreats and theological seminars for clergy, religious and laity.
Invite Fr. Bosco to teach, preach or direct a retreat
For seminars, parish missions, days of recollection or spiritual direction, a note of invitation is always welcome.