Building the City of God

"When, Ryan, when?"

Father Saunders remembers the question the late Auxiliary Bishop Agustin Roman would ask him whenever he visited St. Mary Cathedral: "When, Ryan, when?"

At the time, Saunders was working fulltime as master of ceremonies at the cathedral and associate director of the archdiocesan Office of Worship. Msgr. Terence Hogan, then rector of the cathedral, had hired him for the job in 2005, while he was completing his studies in political science at Barry University in Miami Shores.

The combination of studies and work harmonized with Saunders' lifelong passion for both politics and the priesthood. He remembers as a child telling his family he would either become "president or pope."

He also remembers dragging his grandfather to the front pews of the church whenever they went to Mass. "There was always something about the liturgy that drew me in," said the Fort Lauderdale native, born at Holy Cross Hospital. "There was always something about the elevation that I loved, and I wanted to be close to that."

He also was close to Father Timothy Hannon, his pastor at St. Anthony, where he attended elementary school, taught religious education and served as an extraordinary minister of holy Communion. He also gained experience there coordinating liturgical ceremonies for the parish.

Near the end of his years at Cardinal Gibbons High School, young Ryan spoke to Father Hannon about entering the seminary. The priest, who died in 2005, advised him to get some life experience and finish college first.

"If God is calling you, you will know when he's calling you," Father Hannon advised.

So Ryan graduated from Barry and worked at the cathedral until 2010, when a friend, Chip LaMarca, asked him to run his campaign for Broward County commissioner. LaMarca, now a member of Florida's House of Representatives, won that seat and Saunders became his chief of staff.

"It was a fantastic opportunity," Father Saunders recalled. "I loved what I did," managing the office, meeting with constituents. "But there was always something missing, always something I would experience at Mass, receiving the Eucharist, a voice in the back of my head saying, 'This is what you should be doing.'"

The voice turned into a psalm one day while he took part in daily Mass at St. John the Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale: "You are a priest forever, in the line of Melchizedek."

"It was like a lightbulb went off," Father Saunders recalled. He left church knowing he had to enter the seminary. As he was searching for his car keys, he inadvertently pulled from his pocket the holy card from Bishop Roman's funeral.

"When, Ryan, when?"

"Ok, I get it," Father Saunders recalled thinking. "To this day, I keep that holy card on my desk."