Congratulations to Bryan Galligan, S.J., a Jesuit deacon who will be ordained as a priest tomorrow at Fordham University Church. 

Galligan served at Canisius High School as a biology teacher and campus minister from January 2016 to June 2017. 

Galligan said that his experience at Canisius, and the support of the community here, confirmed and strengthened his desire to apply to become a Jesuit, and he entered the novitiate in 2017.

During his time at CHS he participated in many school events (including our 2016 Ash Wednesday Mass pictured here) and helped lead two CHS Companions immersion service trips to the Navajo nation in Arizona (pictured here with the 2016 group led by Dennis Beecher ’88).

"It was a wonderful way to discern this life and see how wonderful it can be,” he said of his time at CHS.

“What stands out to me about my experience at CHS was that I was to accompany the students – I had wonderful colleagues and that is a wonderful part of the story, but the chance to walk with the excellent young men that Canisius has and watch them grow up and be formed into Men For Others was a special experience.”  

As part of our student profiles during that time, Zach Mecca ’20 cited Galligan as an influential teacher: “Mr. Galligan sparked my interest in science … He loved what he was teaching and his enthusiasm affected his class. He made science interesting through hands-on, interactive learning."

However, Galligan did not start out as a teacher. 

“I never thought I would teach – it was not on my bingo card. I went to Canisius and fell in love in teaching, fell in love with the students and how they would grow in their minds and grow as people along the way.

“Recently I was moving and had a chance to peek at pages of my journal – I had forgotten how intense discernment was … I was very much aware of being on the edge of taking on a really big commitment.

"At the beginning, in trying on this new life, I was thinking that these things I’m doing, this really wonderful work, I could do without being a Jesuit … so do I need to be a Jesuit?

"What I realized was that my own vocation is not about what work I’m doing, and it can never be about that. It’s about who I am before God, and how that person can be present for others, whether it is high school students at Canisius, or any of the many other people I had the privilege of accompanying the last 10 years.

"And that’s something I learned by being at Canisius. Not by learning how to put good lesson plans together, but through asking students how they were doing, being available to them in and out of classes, showing up to sporting events, plays and concerts, and really having that experience of being present.  

Galligan is a Rhode Island native and Fordham University graduate who has Master’s degrees from Boston College and Loyola University Chicago. After ordination, he will pursue doctoral studies in coral reef fisheries and public health nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.

"The Jesuit formation is long – but I feel like I just woke up one day and it was here. It really has flown by. I can’t wait to be a priest and serve people ... and serve them the way I’ve been called to serve for a long time.”  

Students and families interested in the excellence only found in a Jesuit education at Canisius – ranked as the Buffalo area’s “Best Catholic School” by Buffalo Business First – can learn more by arranging an on-campus experience via canisiushigh.org/visit

This place is special. Let us show you why.

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