Bill Robins, SJ

Bill Robins, SJ, is a Canadian Jesuit who lived at Godavari, our original school at the south-east edge of the Kathmandu Valley. He lived in a community of six Jesuits and taught 11 and 12 English until his return to Canada in 2021.

49 posts

29 Apr

For Evangelization (3)

Last October a good friend pronounced his final vows; a huge step for a Jesuit! We pronounce perpetual vows after the two year noviciate program, but only after long training and successful ministry does the Society of Jesus make its final commitment to its members. That took him twenty years! At his reflections during the vow ceremony Mass, he confessed that he first came north ". . . to see Nepal!" After ten years of schooling at home, he had spent two years in a minor seminary in south India before travelling north to enjoy his visit. After a year in our "pre-noviciate" program, his motives had changed. He accepted our invitation to join the noviciate at Kalimpong, pronounced those first perpetual vows two years later, continued studies and service, was ordained, and finally reached that happy October day....

31 Mar

For Evangelization (4)

I don't like being sick. My friends and community members also do not like my little sicknesses, for I can be rather irritable on such occasions. I few times, when I have been more seriously ill, I have been hard to live with at first, but once I have accepted the diagnosis, and know that I am on the mend, I can relax, enjoying good books and rest. Why the change in attitude? I think I finally accepted my state and trusting doctors, medications, nursing care, and of course God, I was able to relax knowing that I would eventually be busy at work, prayer, and play again. That is hope, a virtue that helps us enjoy the present while looking forward to an even more blessed future....

09 Mar

In Response to “Surviving Catastrophe” (4)

At the end of his blog entry - "Surviving Catastrophe" - Kevin Burns wrote: "What Philip Shano's article on the Restoration of the Jesuits provoked in me, and why I waded through these details, was that in addition to wanting the get the history clear in my mind, I wanted answers to another question. After 41 years of invisibility, how was it that the Society of Jesus managed so quickly to re-establish itself around the world?" . . how did the Ignatian vision live on? Today, Bill Robins, SJ responds to those questions....

06 Feb

For Evangelization (2)

The Mission Intention for February 2014 is For Evangelization: That priests, religious, and lay people may work together with generosity for evangelization. This posting is by Bill Robins, SJ in Kathmandu...

15 Jan

For Evangelization

As we settle down to a new year after celebrating Jesus' birthday, life focuses on getting back to work and school, and to staying warm in our coldest month. There is no room for depression, however, because Christ is alive in our world; in the warmth of fire, the sparkle of fresh snow, the condensation of our breath as we hurry through chilly streets....

01 Jan

On Visiting Upper Mustang

For many years I nurtured two travel destination wishes: Tibet, and Upper Mustang in Nepal. Our golden jubilee as Jesuits in 2010 was an excuse for Roger Yaworski, Winston Rye, and I to visit Mike Parent in Tibet. This year, 2013, was the sixtieth birthday of our mobile clinic benefactor, Christopher Fussner and I gladly accepted his invitation to visit Mustang....

01 Dec

Prepare the Savior’s Coming

In 2013, St. Xavier's College, in Kathmandu, marked its silver jubilee. Fr. Charles Law and Fr. Eugene Watrin worked hard to see the college begin evening classes at St. Xavier's School in July 1988. By 1990 the college's first building opened on an ideal site in the city. The college has now grown and looks forward to becoming a university. Jesuits love to use the name "Xavier," and rightly so. For a decade, from 1542 through 1552, St. Francis Xavier preached, first in India, then across South-East Asia, on to Japan, and finally to the coast of China. He introduced many thousands of people to Jesus' message of salvation. He certainly did his part to "prepare humanity for the Savior's coming!"...

06 Sep

A Reason to Celebrate – The Silver Jubilee of St. Xavier’s College

On May 3, 2013, St. Xavier's College, Maitighar, Nepal, was filled with joy and gratitude as it inaugurated its Silver Jubilee year by installing and blessing a statue of St. Francis Xavier, the patron of the college. The long awaited inauguration was witnessed by the joyful faces of the 3,000 students who gathered on the lawn of the college....

04 Sep

Our On-Going Restoration

What led to the suppression of 1773? The Jesuit "Schoolmasters of Europe" confronted the new learning of the age of the Enlightenment. Scientific thinking challenged Aristotle's philosophy. No longer could teachers depend merely on arguments from authority. New political ideas arose, democracy challenging aristocracy. Explorers continued to discover new contents, cultures and religions. Christian Europe was no longer at the world's "center." At home, Christian reformers questioned traditional ways of thinking and acting in the Church. The temptations to riches and honors, led to pride and arrogance. Political leaders found the Society of Jesus too powerful, and seemingly too rich, to have around. When opportunities arose, the more powerful leaders chased the Jesuits out, and finally forced Pope Clement XIV to suppress the order....

29 Aug

Asian Hospitality

My first experience of Asian hospitality was in December, 1971. I had just arrived in Darjeeling, and was enjoying a walk through a village. A family immediately called me into their house, and quickly prepared a traditional snack of tea and a fried egg. Although I could hardly communicate with them, they recognized me as a "Father" from St. Joseph's College. They had benefitted from Jesuit education and so happily welcomed me....