Paulist Fr. Ronald G. Roberson entered eternal life on January 19, 2025.
A member of the Paulist community for 52 years and a priest for 47 years, he was an international leader in ecumenical dialogues and the promotion of Christian unity.
He retired in August, 2023, as associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington, D.C.
He had been part of the office for 28 years.
He staffed dialogues on the national level with the Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Polish National Catholic and Episcopal Churches, as well as the new ecumenical initiative, Christian Churches Together in the USA.
In 2005, he was named a Catholic member of the international dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.
A native of Hutchinson, Kansas, Fr. Roberson received his bachelor's degree in political science at the University of Kansas in 1972.
He then joined the Paulist Fathers and studied theology at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Following his ordination to the priesthood in 1977, Father Roberson spent five years in pastoral ministry in Montreal, Quebec. He received a doctorate from the Pontifical Oriental Institute in Rome in 1988 after defending his thesis on Contemporary Romanian Orthodox Ecclesiology.
From 1988 to 1992, he was a member of the staff of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, where he worked in relations with the Orthodox.
Learn more about Fr. Ron at this profile: