Father Robert A. Jalbert, MM

Born: May 18, 1946
Ordained: May 19, 1979
Died: September 20, 2025

Father Robert A. Jalbert died on September 20, 2025 in the Skilled Nursing Unit at Maryknoll, New York. He was 79 years old and a Maryknoll priest for 46 years.

Robert Alexander Jalbert was born in Southbridge, Massachusetts on May 18, 1946, the eldest of two sons of Oswald C. and Claire Daigle Jalbert. He attended Notre Dame Grammar School in Southbridge, and after completing his first year of high school at Our Lady of Lourdes Seminary in Cassadaga, New York, he graduated from Notre Dame High School in Southbridge in 1964. Bob served four years in the U.S. Air Force (1966-1969) as a Russian linguist in Italy and Turkey before earning a Bachelor of Arts degree, in 1973, in English Literature from Holy Apostles Seminary College in Cromwell, Connecticut.

Realizing his vocation was to missionary priesthood, Bob entered the Maryknoll Novitiate in Hingham, Massachusetts in September 1973. His Overseas Training Program (OTP) took place in Tanzania, where he trained catechists in the Shinyanga Diocese. After returning to the U.S., he earned his M. Div. in Theology from the Maryknoll School of Theology, Maryknoll, New York in 1979.

Father Jalbert was ordained at Maryknoll, New York on May 19, 1979. At the request of the Society, he began studies after ordination at Georgetown University where he received a Master of Science degree in Sociolinguistics in August 1981. From September 1981 to September 1982, he worked in the Cross Cultural Training Services Office at Maryknoll, New York. He was assigned to the Kenya Region in October 1982, where he served as OTP Coordinator as well as assistant pastor at Umoja Catholic Church in Nairobi. This pastoral service provided him with fond memories and lifelong friends. He often remarked on how much he enjoyed those years in parish ministry.

In November 1985, Father Jalbert was assigned back to the U.S. Region and to the Formation/Education Department. He served as Assistant Director of the Center for Mission Studies (CMS) as well as Director of the Society’s Overseas Training Program. He was named Assistant Director of the CMS Planning/Coordinating Team in 1987 and became Director of the Formation/Education Department in July 1990.

In May of 1993, Father Jalbert returned to his beloved East Africa with an assignment to Tanzania, where he served as Director of the Maryknoll Language School in Musoma for the next six years. He was elected Assistant Regional Superior in October 1995 for a three-year term, and from October 1998 to August 1999, served as Musoma District Coordinator. In January 2000 Father Jalbert returned to Nairobi as director of the Maryknoll Center House. His three years there also included pastoral ministry working with the Guadalupe Missioners at Christ the King Parish in the “informal settlement” area named Kibera. He was elected to the Africa Regional Council in October 2001 as the Nairobi District Coordinator. In 2002, he was elected as an Africa Region Delegate to the Eleventh General Chapter and was chosen Chairperson of the Chapter’s Steering Committee.

In October 2003, Father Jalbert accepted another assignment to the Mission Promotion Department, serving as Director of the New York Area Mission Promotion House. He was elected once again as a delegate to the Twelfth General Chapter in 2008 and was appointed Secretary to the Chapter. He served as a member of the U.S. Regional Council from October 2006 through September 2012. He was named the Chairperson of the Core Committee for the Maryknoll Society’s 100th Jubilee Celebration from May 2009 through December 2010; and again in 2012 when he assisted with finalizing the Centennial celebrations and closure.

While Father Jalbert always demonstrated excellent administrative skills, he was also deeply interested in spirituality. He received a Certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Center for Spirituality and Ministry at Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut on June 7, 2009.

In September 2009, Father Jalbert was appointed Director of the Mission Education and Promotion Department (MEPD), and for the next nine years he continued in this role working out of the Society Center at Maryknoll, New York. Through his commitment to personnel and his strong work ethic, he gained the respect and admiration of both employees and Society members during his service in this department. In November 2017, the New York Archdiocesan Catechetical Office presented the Terence Cardinal Cooke Award to Father Jalbert and the Maryknoll Society in recognition of the leadership displayed in catechetical ministry and the “handing on of the faith with excellence.” After the restructuring of the MEPD into the United States Mission Education Apostolate (USMEA), Father Jalbert became Director of the Church Engagement Division (CED) from September 2018 through January 2020.

At the time of his 40^th Jubilee in 2019, Father Jalbert reflected that, with respect to mission and the mission vocation, he would like to “encourage people to listen carefully to Pope Francis in his Apostolic Exhortation The Joy of the Gospel and to recognize themselves as being invited to accept that all Catholics and Christians, through their baptism, are called to be “missionary disciples.” God needs each one of us to help realize and communicate to others that our God is Love and that God is on a mission of love throughout the world. God needs each one of us to play our part in bringing God’s love and compassion to those suffering throughout the world from poverty and marginalization.”

In December 2019, Father Jalbert began a new assignment as the Superior of the Maryknoll Los Altos Community. He resided at the Los Altos Residence in California until 2023, when he returned to the Society Center at Maryknoll, New York. In March 2024, he was assigned to the Senior Missioner Community. Father Jalbert devoted many years to serving the Society in the United States, yet his deepest passion remained the mission in East Africa. He was, through and through, a faithful and committed Maryknoll missioner.

Father Jalbert is survived by his brother, Paul (Suzanne) Jalbert of Southbridge, Massachusetts; his nieces, Melissa (Brian) Cournoyer of Charlton, Massachusetts, and Kristin (Clayton) Beasley of Brandon, Mississippi; and three grandnephews.

Wake services were held on September 26, 2025 in the Holy Spirit Chapel and the Queen of Apostles Chapel at the Maryknoll Society Center. Mass of Christian Burial followed at 11:00 a.m. and was concelebrated in the Queen of Apostles Chapel. Father Francis Breen was the Celebrant and homilist. Father James Eble read the biography and Father John Sivalon read the Oath. Burial followed in the Maryknoll Society Cemetery with Father Lance Nadeau presiding at the graveside prayers.