Ryan J. Dainty, M. Div.

Ryan joined McGrath in the spring of 2025, where he serves as Director of the Echo Program, a two-year graduate service learning program that partners with dioceses across the country to train the next generation of lay leaders in the Church. Echo seeks to build up the people of God by elevating and enriching parish life, evangelization, catechesis, and Catholic theological education.

Ryan has nearly two decades of experience in Catholic education and diocesan faith formation, most recently serving as Dean of Student Formation at Marian High School in the Diocese of Fort Wayne South Bend. He has a B.A. in Literature and Religious Studies from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and his M.Div. from the University of Notre Dame. Ryan’s primary formational focus lies in forging integrative ministerial identity rooted in an ecclesiology of communion, in Biblical imagination, in missionary and evangelical fervor, and in practical spirituality.

He lives in Mishawaka with his wife and six children and spends whatever free time he has supporting his children’s various activities, playing baseball, and continuing to renovate his (very, very) old home.