John Bollard (born 1965) is a former seminarian that filed a lawsuit in federal court against the California Province of the Society of Jesus (a.k.a. the Jesuit Order) and four other defendants. In 1999, after a successful appeal, Bollard won the right to have his case heard in open court, blurring the lines between the separation of church and state. The case never went to trial, being settled out of court for an undisclosed sum in 2000. In 1994, he began his final stage of preparation for ordination by pursuing a Masters degrees in theology and education.