If honest sincerity embodied in radiant friendliness is the name of the game in life, Br. Bob Fillmore has mastered both the rules and the technique.
Among the thousands of students who have benefited from his pastoral teaching over the years, “Br. Bob,” as he’s universally known, is accorded the utmost respect, yet approached without diffidence. His friendly, open manner is obvious, whatever he engages in, be it teaching religion in the classroom, prefecting in corridor or dormitory, driving a school bus, cheering for a school’s athletic teams, facilitating a student retreat, or counseling someone who is experiencing difficulty, Br. Bob is intensely person-oriented. Whoever has his attention has one hundred percent of it.
Born in Barberton, Ohio, Br. Bob attended schools in that city and in Akron, joining the Holy Cross Brothers in 1958 after graduating from high school. His first assignment after completing university studies was to Sacred Heart Military Academy in Watertown, Wisconsin. His stay there was only a semester, however, as he was needed on the faculty of Boysville of Michigan in Macon, Michigan. He arrived in the fall of 1962 and spent seven years there teaching, counseling, prefecting and handling the endless variety of duties a boarding high school program requires, in the process maturing effectively in every area of his life and ministry.
Br. Bob by then so clearly embodied the concept of “brother” that he was asked by the provincial to become the promoter of vocations for the province, a position he held capably for seven years, at the same time living with and helping form for Holy Cross some of the very candidates he was recruiting.
In 1976 Br. Bob took a sabbatical to study theology at the University of California in Berkeley, emerging from that experience more deeply committed, if that were possible, to both his faith and his vocation.
From Berkeley he went to River Grove, Illinois, and the brothers’ Holy Cross High School, where he became campus minister, a post he capably held from 1977-1981. For the next twenty years he remained in the Chicago area filling as needed one role or another geared primarily toward the spiritual enrichment of teenage students. In 1981 he became Co-Director of the TEC (Teens Encountering Christ) program for the Archdiocese of Chicago, organizing and facilitating numerous teen retreats. From 1985-1989 he was Coordinator of Religious Education for Our Lady of Westside Schools, then in 1989 began a long tour as a teacher of religion in the province’s near-northwest side high school, Holy Trinity. While there, he was elected to the provincial council, an administrative service he performed for six years, and then again in 2000 he was asked move to Notre Dame to become assistant and vicar to the new provincial, Br. Donald Gibbs.
While in that position, Br. Bob took on for a school year the position of campus minister at Archbishop Hoban High School, Akron, moving there but returning frequently to Notre Dame for meetings and other administrative tasks.
In October of 2002, Br. Bob was appointed by the Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross to the position of provincial of the Midwest Province, filling out the term of Br. Donald, who had resigned.
The same sound spirituality that had been the foundation for Br. Bob’s effectiveness in ministry since his first days at Sacred Heart Military Academy in Wisconsin, and which had accompanied him wherever he was asked to serve in the congregation, he brought with him to the role of provincial.
An unfortunate experience he endured some 40 years ago while at Boysville has served Br. Bob as a constant reminder of both the fragility of life and the absolute necessity of relying on God’s providence. In celebration of a particular occasion, Br. Bob accompanied several of the brothers on the Boysville staff for a dinner at a restaurant in the locale. As a result of eating tainted food that day, he contracted a virulent form of salmonella food poisoning, nearly resulting in his death. His memory of that time is vivid; he admits he was so sick he honestly wished he would die.
It is a blessing for both Holy Cross, especially the members of the Midwest Province, and for the numerous students whose lives have been enriched by Br. Bob’s generous and creative apostolic ministry that he did not die. God had other things in mind for him, and no doubt has even more for the future.
