On Founding Parousian Ryan Hallford

Ryan Hallford did not receive the e-mails about the first Parousian meeting. I met him at a salsa party coinciding with the Feast of St. Thomas Aquinas at Emily Byers' apartment the night before. Why I was at a salsa party is pretty inexplicable, unless you explain things the way Caleb Bernacchio frequently has, that it was a matter of providence. I had no idea how much of the coming year would be marked by Ryan's incredible intellect and inner strength.

Ryan owns a remarkable sense of balance. Some people can be so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good, but Ryan's thoughts can ascend deep into the heavens while his feet remain firmly anchored in the soil of this world. He may be what Brad Miner had in mind when writing his ideal of The Compleat Gentleman, a modern man rooted in tradition but not bound by it, equal parts warrior, lover, and monk.

Two experiences have shaped Ryan fit for the Parousians. He is a former seminarian who discerned the priesthood was not his calling, yet he could not jettison his study of philosophy and theology, an effort to worship God with his mind. He is also a former wrestler who knows how to scrap and how to counter. You may think you got him in a corner, only to find out he's been playing rope-a-dope all along. The kid got skills.

At the Veritas conference last year, I witnessed an exchange between Ryan and Oz Guiness, the renowned Evangelical scholar. Ryan informed Guiness that his view on faith and reason was very Augustinian, and that he was overlooking some of the finer points of St. Thomas Aquinas. Ryan then summarized some of the key themes of John Paul the Great's encyclical Fides et Ratio. Guiness replied he'll look into that. If he ever converts, which didn't seem likely when we parted company, be sure that Ryan planted a seed.

I wish I could dance as well as Ryan, or write poetry on dance as well as Ryan, or explain the existential metaphysics of dance as well as Ryan. What can I say - he's multi-talented. We have had deep conversations on Walker Percy, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, and Bernard Lonergan. We have also carried conversations in chant while working a street corner in a political campaign. Poor Amanda Pendleton standing in the middle of Ryan and me cracking corny joke after corny joke about peanut butter and ballroom dancing, doing Harry Carey impersonations, figuring this would help our candidate become more electable than merely having us wave at drivers as they passed by.

Ryan Hallford is certifiably nuts, and that may be the only reason someone as gifted as he is would keep me as a friend - well, that and a sincere love for God and neighbor.

Ryan's home plays host to most meetings of the Parousians. If a discussion is going slack, his comment will spark new life. He handles many of the fine details to keep business moving. But if you only know him for what he does instead of who he is, you've missed out. The Parousians know him and love him because he of all people is most truly our own.