Our dedicated staff works year-round to bring Catholics On Call to you through our programs and here on this website.

Robin Ryan, C.P.

Director, Catholics On Call vocation program
Adjunct Professor in Systematic Theology at CTU
773.371.5536
Contact Robin

Originally from Richmond, Virginia, Father Robin Ryan joined the Passionist community while in college. His first stay at Catholic Theological Union was during the early 1980s, when he studied for his master of divinity and master of arts in theology degrees (1981-84). He recalls, “One of the highlights of my study was participating in the Fall Israel Study Program. Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller led the program that year.”

Since ordination in 1984, Professor Ryan’s ministry has been divided between retreat ministry and teaching theology, along with responsibilities for ministerial formation. As director of Catholics On Call, Professor Ryan brings his teaching, formation, and retreat leadership experience to a generation hungry for guidance and direction in discerning their personal call from God.

“I particularly enjoyed directing the program of lay formation in Boston run by St. John’s Seminary,” he says. “I love to teach and am convinced that teaching is a ministry in itself. And, last but not least, I love the Boston Red Sox!”

Birgit Oberhofer

Associate Director, Catholics On Call
773.371.5431
Contact Birgit

Birgit Oberhofer is originally from Munich, Germany where she studied Education Science, Psychology and Theology. After two years of formation in Italy she became a consecrated member of the Focolare Movement, living in one of their houses in Cologne. There she worked as a program developer and grant writer for one of the biggest charity organizations in Germany, running programs in the field of Adult Education and Social Work. She was regional Director of the Youth Ministry Programs of the Focolare, preparing retreats and formation programs for Young Adults. She is living now in one of the two houses of the Focolare in Hyde Park, Chicago. The Focolare is an ecclesial lay movement, born in Italy in 1943.