Faith and Freedom: The Life and Times of Bill Ryan SJ

Ashley Thomson is a full librarian at Laurentian University and co-editor or co-author of nine books, most recently Margaret Atwood: A Reference Guide, 1988-2005.

Born in the Ottawa Valley in 1925, Bill Ryan spent a hardscrabble youth
as the son of a lumberman. At age 19, he decided to become a Jesuit. In
addition to his rigorous theological training, he earned a doctorate in
economics from Harvard and then made social justice the focus of his
career. He served as director of the Washington-based Center for Concern
during the Vietnam War, as superior of the Upper Canada province of the
Jesuits, and as general secretary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic
Bishops.

A bit of a church politician, Ryan also played a prominent role at the
landmark Roman synod on Justice in the World. Throughout his career,
Father Bill was a noted ecumenical who was welcomed at a variety of
international conferences under United Nations auspices. Today, in his
mid-70s, he remains active in Ottawa as coordinator of the Jesuit Centre
for Social Faith and Justice and as a consultant for Canadian
governmental agencies.

While Ryan’s life is fascinating in itself (especially as told in
this fast-paced, well-researched, and well-illustrated book), it is set
within the context of a changing Jesuit order and Roman Catholic Church
in the late 20th century. Written at Ryan’s request by an Orthodox Jew
and a lapsed Anglican, the book is not a fawning recount of his life and
times, but rather a balanced and sometimes hard-hitting biography that
in several instances will make him squirm when he reads it. The same can
be said for Pope John Paul II’s many fans.

Ryan has toiled for many years in relative obscurity. Faith and Freedom
should help him become much better known not only as one of this
country’s most influential Roman Catholics but also as one of its most
passionate and articulate advocates of social justice.