Paul H. Robson, SJ
Paul H. Robson, SJ, 37, is a native of Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, Canada. Growing up, Robson attended church services with his family at the local Salvation Army church. A jazz trumpet player in high school, he earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Winnipeg in 2000 and headed to France after graduation. For one year, he worked as a teaching assistant at a high school in Saint-Malo in northwest France, and then returned to Winnipeg to take courses while working in a group home for the handicapped. When a friend asked him to attend Mass at St. Ignatius Parish in Winnipeg, Robson became drawn both to the Jesuits and the Catholic faith. After going through the RCIA program, Robson was baptized and confirmed at St. Ignatius in 2003. He quickly threw himself into parish life and began to discern his own vocation. His discernment took Robson to Montreal, where he taught part time at Loyola High School, and to India, where he studied, worked and prayed as part of a pre-novitiate program in the Jesuits’ Darjeeling Province. In 2006, Robson entered the Society and, as a novice, served on the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve in northern Ontario. Missioned next to Regis College in Toronto, he earned a Diploma in Philosophical Studies and also did volunteer work with newly arrived immigrants. His Jesuit formation took him next to Nepal, where he served with Jesuit Refugee Service, working with refugees from Bhutan. He returned to Espanola in northern Ontario, where he worked again with First Nations communities. In 2012, he was missioned back to Regis College, where he earned a Master of Divinity degree. He is now working on a master’s degree in theology from Saint Paul University in Ottawa, which he will complete after ordination. Robson, who will celebrate his first Mass as a Jesuit priest at St. Peter's Church in Toronto, looks forward to continuing his work in Native ministry.
(English Canada Province)