The Right Priorities

He could have become anything, but he chose to become a priest because he felt God’s calling. The life of Fr. Ryan Stawaisz, a priest of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston, inspires many people. The Diocese of Corpus Christi brought the documentary to the B&B Theatre in Portland last Sunday, and the audience could catch a glimpse into Fr. Ryan’s life.
 
People started lining up long before the movie, excited about this opportunity. “The original plan was to make a seven-minute video,” explained Ray Stawaisz, Fr. Ryan’s father. It became a 57-minute documentary produced by Palomita Films.
 
The movie uses old family recordings, pictures, and interviews with friends, family and parishioners whose lives he touched in his ministry. Fr. Ryan’s parents, Ray and Susan Stawaisz, came from Houston to attend the special screening in Portland. They encouraged everyone to foster vocations to the priesthood and religious life: “Around 40% of seminarians struggle because they don’t have the full support of their families,” his mother shared.
 
Ryan battled cancer when he was a freshman in college, studying Petroleum Engineering. After finishing his degree, he entered the seminary and developed many close friendships. “We never took Ryan out for lunch or dinner without taking four or five of his friends, too,” his father remembered. They would work, study, pray together, and be a sounding board for one another; the father described their special bond.
 
As a seminarian, he was part of the famous basketball team that beat the priests; he played the drums in the Concerts for Life with Fr. David Michael Moses and was always full of ideas.
 
About one month before seven of them were about to get ordained, the cancer returned. The Vocations Director of that Time, Fr. Dat, remembered that Deacon Ryan was worried if the Cardinal would ordain him. But he did, and Fr. Ryan started his short but impactful ministry. He would not only accept God’s will but “love God’s will.”
 
Fr. Richard Gutierrez, parochial vicar at St. Joseph in Beeville, studied together with Fr. Ryan and helped get the movie to the diocese. Many young people in the audience felt inspired by the film and challenged by his life: “He knew his priorities,” so one young man.
 
For all those who missed the movie, Palomita Films will soon release a slightly longer version that could go national through a different distributor so that Fr. Ryan’s life can inspire even more people. Stay tuned!