Longtime Tucson priest Monsignor Robert D. Fuller will be feted Sunday as he prepares to leave the north-side parish he has led for more than 30 years.
A party for Fuller, who is fondly known as “Father Bob,” will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. June 3 at St. Frances Cabrini Catholic Church, 3201 E. Presidio Road. A special presentation is scheduled for noon.
All friends, as well as current and past parishioners, are invited.
Fuller, 87, made a national model out of the east-side St. Pius X Catholic Church, where he was pastor during the 1970s, by implementing reforms that came out of the Second Vatican Council, a worldwide meeting of the Roman Catholic Church.
Among those reforms are advocating a more loving God, rather than one that judges and keeps score. Fuller always uses “we” in his homilies rather than addressing his congregation as “you” and faithfully follows the Vatican II philosophy of Pope John XXIII: Look for truth wherever we find it, and rejoice in it.
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Fuller’s work at St. Pius led to a job with RENEW International in the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey, putting Vatican II reforms in place around the country.
In 1987, he was named senior pastor at St. Frances Cabrini, where he became known for his thoughtful homilies, delivering them while walking around the church among parishioners rather than from the altar.
He published three collections of his homilies in books titled “Homilies from the Heart” and donated proceeds to the local Casa Maria Soup Kitchen.
