On Saturday, October 25, 2025, Robert Buckland, SJ, will pronounce perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at Fordham University Church in the Bronx, New York. A Jesuit of the USA Central and Southern Province since 2023, Br. Buckland, 55, pronounces vows to live his Jesuit vocation as a Jesuit brother.
Born in Guyana and raised in Belize, Br. Buckland met the Jesuits at St. John’s College in Belize City. He graduated from St. John’s College High School in 1987 and from the junior college in 1989 before pursuing a bachelor’s degree in English at Fordham University. He worked as a teacher and in telecommunications before starting his own consulting firm in Belize. He then went on to serve as CIO for a local airline. Prior to entering the Jesuit Novitiate of St. Stanislaus Kostka, Br. Buckland spent a year of discernment with the Jesuit Community of Belize.
Brother Buckland’s profession of perpetual vows follows two years of discernment as a contemplative in action through prayer, study and apostolic ministry. During his two-year novitiate, he served at Manresa House of Retreats House in Convent, Louisiana; Jesuit High School of Tampa, and America Media in New York. In each of these experiences, he discovered how the technical skills and professional expertise he had cultivated in his prior career could be placed in the service of the Jesuit mission today.
This fall, Br. Buckland began the phase of Jesuit formation known as first studies. This phase of formation integrates a Jesuit’s intellectual and spiritual growth while deepening his experience of community life and apostolic work. Brother Buckland is a member of the Ciszek Hall Jesuit Residential College program at Fordham, where he is pursuing a master’s degree in Christian spirituality with a focus on spiritual direction.
Brother Robert Buckland’s Vow Mass will be live streamed from the Fordham University Chapel beginning at 10:30 A.M. Eastern Time on Saturday, October 25. View it here: https://jesuits.family/buckland
Brother Robert Buckland, SJ shared this reflection on his novitiate experience:
The past few years in formation, including two years in the novitiate and a gap year navigating immigration delays, have been filled with untold graces. What began in 2022 as frustrating postponement, waiting for my visa while accepted but unable to enter the novitiate, gradually transformed into an unexpected gift: a year of discernment and orientation. That threshold time allowed me to hold religious life alongside my previous career, testing my vocation against the reality I was leaving behind. Ultimately, I chose religious life, and those months living in community with my Jesuit brothers in Belize became invaluable preparation for the novitiate itself.
During my 30-day silent retreat, the Spiritual Exercises crystallized my desire to accompany the marginalized, and every apostolic experience since has sharpened that focus. One early experiment left a particularly deep impression: serving at Genevieve’s Garden at Blessed Sacrament Church in Los Angeles. The stark contrasts struck me immediately. Unhoused neighbors in tents along Sunset Boulevard, with Hollywood Boulevard’s glittering façade just one block away. But it was the individual encounters that marked me most, especially with a young woman who was almost certainly a victim of human trafficking.
These experiences now shape my path forward in first studies, where I’m pursuing a master’s in Christian spirituality with a focus on spiritual direction. These are tools I deeply need for accompanying the marginalized I continue to encounter. My novitiate long experiment at America Media reinforced something equally important: my commitment to the brother vocation. There, I discovered how fully my professional technology skills could integrate with my training in the humanities. As a brother, I remain anchored in the simple theology of James 2:26: “Faith without works is dead.”
