About Ron

Ron Rolheiser was born in Macklin, Saskatchewan, in 1947, into a large family, to George and Matilda (Gartner) Rolheiser.

As a young child, Ron’s father George, along with his family, and other German- Russian families, immigrated from Saratov, Russia, and settled, as homesteaders, near the Alberta border where they established a community centred around St. Donatus Church in Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan. Ron’s mother Matilda was from a family of homesteaders in a nearby area. After meeting George at a parish picnic, they married, and acquired a farm, near Cactus Lake, within 4 miles of the original Rolheiser homestead.

Fr. Ron frequently writes about the influence his parents had on him.

“[My mother] complemented my father perfectly. Their affection and respect for each other was what, perhaps more than anything else, gave us, their children, an inchoate sense of safety, stability, and faith.  My father was the moral compass, she was the heart; but they could reverse those roles and she could offer the moral challenge while he provided the sensitivity. Either way, they did it together and by the time they died, leaving behind a family that felt too young to be on its own, they had given us what they needed to, all the basic tools to build our own lives and to live with some buoyancy and joy.”

Both parents died young, in their early sixties, within three months of each other.

Life on a mixed farm included chores before and after school and helping with the seeding and harvest. Driving farm machinery as a teenager was one of the more enjoyable tasks. The family was active and competitive. Skating on frozen ponds in the winter, picking up hockey games, playing cards, board games and ping pong tournaments were part of winter evenings. Ball tournaments were a huge part of the summer. Every weekend found the family at parish picnics and sports days where family members played, coached and managed teams.  Ron’s love of sports has roots in these family times. Family birthdays, feast days, weddings, and weekend dances often included cousins.

Education was highly valued by Ron’s parents. Excellence was expected and Ron rose to the challenge. He was an impatient scholar always looking for knowledge and ideas beyond the world he experienced. He shared a love of education and knowledge with his father, with whom he shared a strong bond and mutual respect.

Following his school years, Ron entered the novitiate of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and professed his First Vows in September 1966. Ordained to the priesthood in 1972, Ron continued his education, receiving a B.A. (University of Ottawa, 1969), B.Th. (Newman Theological College, 1973), M.A. (University of San Francisco, 1974), M.R.Sc. (University of Louvain, 1982) and Ph.D/STD (University of Louvain, 1983). During and after his studies, he taught theology and philosophy at Newman Theological College, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

In 1982, while living and studying in Belgium, Fr. Ron began to write a regular feature column in the Canadian newspaper, The Western Catholic Reporter. The column offered reflections on various theological, church and secular issues. Choosing to call his column, In Exile, Fr. Ron wrote:

“All of us live our lives in exile. We live in our separate riddles, partially separated from God, each other, and even from ourselves. We experience some love, some community, some peace, but never these in their fullness. Our senses, egocentricity, and human nature place a veil between us and full love, full community, and full peace. We live, truly, as in a riddle: The God who is omnipresent cannot be sensed; others, who are as real as ourselves, are always partially distanced and unreal; and we are, in the end, fundamentally a mystery even to ourselves.”

Fr. Ron’s column is carried by many Catholic newspapers worldwide.

Fr. Ron’s writing isn’t limited to a weekly column. He has written numerous feature articles and has written Daybreaks for Advent and Lent (Liguori Publications 2005, 2019, 2020)

The following is a list of Fr. Ron’s published books.  

• The Loneliness Factor, Dimension Books, Denville, New Jersey, 1979.
• The Restless Heart, Hodder and Stoughton, London, England, 1988. This book won the Winnifred Sanford award for 1990 – awarded every 2nd year to the book judged to be the best popular spiritual book in the United Kingdom.
• Forgotten Among the Lilies, Hodder and Stoughton, London, England, 1990.
• Spirituality for a Restless Culture, 23rd Publications, Mystic, Connecticut, 1991.
• John of the Cross: The Man, the Myth and the Truth and John of the Cross and Human Development – The Dark Night of the Soul … a Contemporary Interpretation, in, A Fresh Approach to John of the Cross, Edited by John McGowan, St. Paul’s Press, London, England, 1993.
• The Shattered Lantern Hodder and Stoughton, London, England 1994, and Crossroads, New York, New York, 1995 & 2000. This book won the Catholic Book Award for best paperback spirituality, USA Catholic Book Awards, 1996.
• Against an Infinite Horizon, Hodder and Stoughton, London, England, August 1995, and Crossroads, New York, New York, 1996 & 2001.
• Seeking Spirituality, Guidelines for a Christian Spirituality for the Twenty-First Century, Hodder & Stoughton, London, England, 1998. The American edition of this book is entitled: The Holy Longing, Doubleday, New York, New York, 1999. This book won USA Catholic Press book award for 2000, for the best hardback book in Spirituality.
• The Restless Heart, revised edition, Doubleday, New York, New York. 2004.
• Daybreaks, Daily Reflections for Lent and Easter, Liguori, Liguori, Missouri, 2004.
• Forgotten Among the Lilies, revised edition, N.Y., Doubleday, New York, New York, 2005.
• Daybreaks, Daily Reflections for Advent and Christmas, Liguori, Liguori, Missouri, 2005.
• Secularity and the Gospel, Being Missionaries to our own Children, Crossroads, New York, New York, 2006.
• Our One Great Act of Fidelity: Waiting for Christ in the Eucharist, Doubleday, New York, New York, 2011.
• Prayer: Our Deepest Longing,  Franciscan Media, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2013.
• Insane for the Light: The Final Stage of Maturity and Christian Discipleship, Chicago Studies, Summer 2013.
• Sacred Fire – A Vision for A Deeper Human and Christian Maturity, Image Books, New York, New York, 2014. Winner of the Book of the Year, Catholic Book Awards, 2015; Winner of Best Book in Spirituality, Catholic Book Awards, 2015.
• The Passion and the Cross, Franciscan Media, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2015.
• Wrestling with God, Image Books, New York, New York, 2018.
• Bruised and Wounded: Struggling to Understand Suicide, Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts, 2017.
• The Domestic Monastery, Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts, 2018.
• The Fire Within, Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts, 2021.
• After Suicide: Seven Things for Catholics to Know, Franciscan Media, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2021.
• Ronald Rolheiser Essential Spiritual Writings, Orbis Books, Maryknoll, New York, 2021. The Association of Catholic Publishers awarded this book second place (tied) in the category of Spirituality. Catholic Media awarded second place in the category of Spirituality: Contemporary
• Chastity and the Soul, Paraclete Press, Brewster, Massachusetts, 2024.
• Insane for the Light, Image Books, Penguin Random House, New York, New York. 2025.

Fr. Ron is in demand and well-known as a speaker. Keeping an active speaking schedule, his retreats and workshops have inspired many. Along with his academic knowledge in systematic theology and philosophy, he has become a popular speaker in the areas of contemporary spirituality and religion and the secular world. Franciscan Communications has produced fifteen DVDs of his retreats that are well-loved for both individual and group use.

In 1991, while on sabbatical, Fr. Ron was asked by his religious community to serve as the Provincial Superior of his home province. He served two terms as Provincial of St. Mary’s Province (Canada). In 1998, Fr. Ron was elected Regional Councilor for Canada, serving on the General Administration of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, in Rome, for six years. In August 2005, Fr. Ron became the President of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio Texas. He retired from that position in September 2020 and remains on staff as a full-time faculty member as a Professor of Spirituality.

Fr. Ron still is very involved in the life of his large extended family enjoying their annual hiking trips and New Year’s celebrations. Most Christmases you will find him in his home church, St. Donatus, near the former family farm in Cactus Lake, Saskatchewan.

Fr. Ron is also known for his commitment to prayer and exercise, a continuing love of sports, his sense of humour, his loyalty to his friends, and the enjoyment of the odd cigar and fine scotch.