It is with tremendous joy and gratitude for the tenure and legacy of Reverend Robert L. Beloin, Yale University’s seventh Catholic Chaplain, that the members of the Saint Thomas More Board of Trustees announce the creation of the Rev. Robert L. Beloin Fund for Faith in Action.
For nearly twenty-five years, before his death on September 23, 2018, Fr. Bob elevated and celebrated Catholic intellectual life on campus, taking the topics of the day and illuminating them from the perspective of faith. His commitment to creating an environment at Yale where students could cultivate a mature, adult life of faith, cognitively and affectively, was evident to all who came in contact with him. A passionate champion of young adults in the life of the Church, Fr. Bob helped students develop a vocabulary to talk about their faith at the level of university discourse. He introduced the Small Church Community structure at Yale, writing commentary on Scripture; inaugurated three fellowships on Faith and Culture, Faith and Science and Religion and Law; and created the Catholic faculty series, Life as a Scholar and a Believer, among many other signature programs. He wanted students to know their faith, the better to act on it in their lives as scholars, as young leaders and as disciples.
Although Fr. Bob will always be remembered for dramatically expanding Catholic life on Yale’s campus, building the Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Center, and endowing the ministry, he will be formally memorialized with the creation of a fund to support those programmatic initiatives he helped to create as well as opportunities for faith-based innovations to address pressing social challenges.
Realizing this initiative will require a $5 million investment. Additional information will be shared at the inaugural Rev. Robert L. Beloin Lecture on September 5, 2019, at STM. To learn more about how you can support the initiative and honor Fr. Bob, please contact margaret.lukaszyk@yale.edu.
