He was born in Newport, Vt. on June 11, 1944. His parents were Romeo and Albertine (Vaillancourt) Charbonneau. At the time they owned a farm in Holland, Vt. He was baptized in Rock Island, Quebec because there was no church in Derby Line yet. His siblings were Rheal and Roland Charbonneau. He was the middle child. His family moved to Newport from the farm in 1948 when his father got a job at H.P. Hoods Creamery in Newport.
He began attending Sacred Heart Schools in Kindergarten in 1949. In May, 1951, He received First Holy Communion at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church in Newport, Vt. He received the Sacrament of Confirmation in June, 1955 also at St. Mary’s Church. He graduated from high school in June, 1962. In September of 1962, he began his studies for the Catholic priesthood. He was assigned to attend St. John Vianney Seminary in Randolph, Vt. for a year of Special Latin and then at the Barre campus for 2 years of college. In September, 1965, he was assigned to attend St. John’s Seminary in Brighton, Ma. for further studies in philosophy and theology. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy in June, 1967 and a Master’s degree in Theology in June, 1971.
He was ordained as a transitional deacon in May 1970 at St. Columkille’s Church in Brighton, Ma. He was assigned to spend the summer of 1970 as a deacon at Holy Cross Parish in Mallets Bay (Colchester) to do pastoral work with the pastor, Fr. William P. Hammond. In September, he returned to St. John’s Seminary to complete his theology studies and was assigned to the deacon internship program to do parish work at St. Dorothy’s Church in Wilmington, Ma., under the leadership of Fr. Larry Drennan who was the assistant pastor there.
On May 22, 1971, he was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Robert F. Joyce at St. Mary’s Star of the Sea Church in Newport. On the following day, he celebrated his first Mass at St. Mary’s. Fr. William Hammond was the preacher. His first assignment by Bishop Joyce was as an assistant pastor at St. Anthony’s Church in Burlington on June 1, 1971, under the leadership of Fr. Rosario Morency. He enjoyed working with the youth of the parish in religious education and youth groups, as well as visiting the sick at the 3 hospitals in the Burlington area and bringing Holy Communion to the elderly and ill of the parish. On August 22, 1974, He was transferred to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Mary by Bishop John Marshall to be assistant pastor to Msgr. Robert Powers who was the rector there at the time. It was an easy move of just over 1 mile up Pine Street. There were more elderly parishioners in that parish so the ministry involved visiting nursing homes and celebrating Masses there and in the senior housing facilities in the city. He also enjoyed taking youth and elderly groups on pilgrimages to Montreal and other destinations as the driver of the Cathedral bus. He was also present when the new cathedral was built and dedicated in 1977 following the tragic fire that destroyed our oldest cathedral in New England in March, 1972.
On June 7, 1978, Bishop Marshall assigned Fr. Roger to become a pastor at St. Isidore’s Church in Montgomery Center, replacing Fr. Lucien Duquette who had moved to nearby Enosburg Falls. He was very helpful to him as he learned the ropes of what it involved to be a pastor on his own.
On June 8, 1982, he was transferred by Bishop Marshall to the other side of Jay Peak to be pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Troy and St. Ignatius of Loyola Mission in Lowell. During his pastorate there they added space for religious classrooms to the Sacred Parish Hall and built a new parish hall in 1989 for the Lowell parish adjacent to the church on the site of the former Lowell elementary school. They were able to sell the former parish hall down the street to parishioners who made their home out of it.
On June 20, 1993, Bishop Kenneth Angell assigned Fr. Roger to be the pastor of Holy Cross Church in Mallets Bay (Colchester). It was a much bigger parish. However, he enjoyed getting to know all his new parishioners. He was to serve there for 18 years and during that time, the Church donated 4 acres of land to the Champlain Senior Housing Trust who constructed 40 units of housing for the elderly of the area. It was named Holy Cross Senior Housing and Fr. Roger’s mother was among the first to move in as a resident. In 2004, they built a new parish hall attached to their church which included a parish office and several classrooms for religious education as well as a large facility for parish gatherings and dinners.
On June 23, 2011, he was assigned by Bishop Salvatore Matano to be pastor of St. John the Baptist Church in Enosburg Falls, St. Anthony’s Mission in Sheldon and St. Mary’s Mission in Franklin. In 2014, St. John’s Parish Hall was renovated with a new kitchen, religious education classrooms and a new ramp to make the facility handicapped accessible.
In June 2015, Bishop Christopher Coyne granted him permission to retire from active parish ministry. However, he retained the directorship of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith Office for the Diocese of Burlington which he had been requested to do by Bishop Angell during his 18 years as Holy Cross’ pastor. From 1972 until 2015, he also served as a part-time member of the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal as an Advocate and Defender of the Bond. It was during his pastorate at St. Isidore’s that Bishop Angell appointed him to be the Diocesan Director for pilgrimages to the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. In the Jubilee Year, 2000, he led a 3-day pilgrimage there for 40 people from all over the state of Vermont.
After just one and a half years of retirement, in January, 2017, he offered to return to active ministry as a senior parochial vicar to assist Fr. Tim Naples who was pastor at the churches of Troy, North Troy, Lowell, Barton, Orleans and Irasburg, with residence at St. Vincent Rectory in North Troy. Due to serious health issues which occurred during the following months, he requested Bishop Coyne to be relieved of active ministry on Dec. 15, 2017. Since that date he has been residing at his homes in Newport Center in the summer and in Nokomis, Fl in the winter. He has been able to help both in Florida and Vermont with daily and weekend Masses, as well as with part-time Marriage Tribunal work in the Diocese of Venice in Fl.
All in all, it has been a very fulfilling and rewarding vocation to serve God and His people as a Catholic priest for these many years which have gone by so fast.