An Inspiration for Catholicism at Yale: A Tribute to Fr. Bob

“The most privileged aspect of my priesthood over forty-five years has been the invitation to be present
to people in times of great joy and great sorrow.” – Father Robert Beloin

When I first visited Yale after being accepted to the college, I heard about Father Robert Beloin — or, as everybody here knows him, Fr. Bob — long before anyone had even thought to mention something about academics or extracurriculars to me. A Yale student who I knew from my high school, a Jesuit school in New York City, had met me on Old Campus after I first stumbled onto Yale for “Bulldog Days,” the University’s orientation program for accepted students. I asked him this question, the only question I really cared about, almost right away:

“What was it like to be at Yale as a Catholic, after spending four years in a high school like ours, where the Catholic faith defined the very fiber of our education?”
“Oh,” he chuckled. “You don’t need to worry about that — We have Fr. Bob.”

This year, we lost Fr. Bob to brain cancer eight months after he announced his illness to the STM community. Fr. Bob, I quickly learned at Bulldog Days and then as an enrolled student, was not just the Chaplain of STM but a living inspiration for Catholicism at Yale in his twenty-five years on the job. With Fr. Bob, wise sermons went hand in hand with warm jokes; good advice in tandem with loving dialogue; compassionate leadership always alongside friendship. As Chaplain, he excelled as an administrator, not only by bringing our community a bounty of new programs, like the Small Church Community Bible study sessions, but fundraising the money that provided the Yale-New Haven community with the Thomas E. Golden Jr. Center.

This was the same person who would captivate me with stories about his youth as a priest studying in Belgium, where he spent weeks praying at holy sites, like Taizé, or discovering classical music in Paris — memories that he would share with students over late-night food served after the 10 p.m. Sunday Mass, a popular event for busy Yale students desperate to end their weekends on a thoughtful, comforting note. (The 10 p.m. Mass was another one of Fr. Bob’s creations).

That’s who Fr. Bob was to his colleagues, friends and congregation: someone who was infinitely genuine and brought the experience
of life and Christianity into every encounter he had on this Earth. When it was time for the Yale-Harvard game, Fr. Bob was right there getting chili prepared in the football stadium’s parking lot, beckoning for the entire community to participate in one of his famous tailgates. A little over a year ago, when a student came to Fr. Bob with concerns about an undocumented immigrant couple about to be deported in Hartford, he went, as Pope Francis says, right to the margins: police arrested Fr. Bob, along with assistant chaplain Father Karl Davis and a score of activists, for obstructing the entrance to the courthouse that would order the deportation. He was fond of referring to young Catholics as “the hope of the church.”

Two weeks before he passed away, Fr. Bob wrote to me that “the most privileged aspect of my priesthood over forty-five years has been the invitation to be present to people in times of great joy and great sorrow.” To have been near Fr. Bob in life was an inestimable joy. But we should reflect carefully on his words, because even the act of mourning Fr. Bob is a privilege. He gave our community memories and experiences of love that go beyond measure. We will never forget Fr. Bob, or his legacy, that still lives before us in the STM community with each celebration of the Mass, every moment of compassion—and the continued, daily witness to the loving faith that we share.

"Father Bob was not just the Chaplain of STM but a living inspiration for Catholicism at Yale."