FORT LANGLEY—He’s only in his early thirties, but Robbie de Fleuriot is already married, a father of two, and a small business owner in B.C.’s historic Fort Langley.
“It came a lot earlier in my career than I expected, but God sometimes has plans for you that you don’t expect,” said de Fleuriot in his physiotherapy clinic on 96 Ave.
He hadn’t planned to become a clinic owner after only five years in the practice. In fact, as a teen he’d entertained thoughts about becoming a chartered accountant or doctor.
Fresh out of high school, he started applying to universities to start his medical career. But he realized he wasn’t entirely happy with his reasons for doing so. “It came to me that my underlying motivation was money. Yes, I had the enjoyment of biology, but I wasn’t sure money was the best motivation” for becoming a doctor, he said.
“There is so much pressure about what you’re going to do for life. What are you called to be? What is your purpose? Those are such big questions these days. At 16 or 17, was I really prepared to answer those questions? I would say no.”
As he continued applying for premedical studies, an opportunity came up to take a year off from school and volunteer with National Evangelization Teams, a Catholic organization that sends volunteers to share the Gospel with youths in schools and parishes.
“I said: ‘Lord, I’ll apply. If I get accepted to the Catholic gap year, I’ll pursue it, but if I don’t, I’ll pursue medicine.’”
De Fleuriot was accepted by NET. His parents worried taking a year away from school or work would be a setback for their son and a gap in his resume. Instead, he found the break set him several steps ahead when it came to his faith, work, and relationships.
“Retrospectively, it’s one of the greatest things that pushed me forward in life.”
“Retrospectively, it’s one of the greatest things that pushed me forward in life,” said de Fleuriot, who has become an advocate for taking a “gap year” after high school to volunteer, travel, and strengthen one’s faith.
“The thing that attracted me to it was this opportunity to go away and do something of my own. I’m from a big family of five,” he said.
De Fleuriot joined a team of 12, hopped into a 15-passenger van, and spent a year driving from one Canadian city to another, leading retreats for young Catholics preparing for confirmation or needing spiritual formation. He stayed on for a second year of volunteer work, this time with a team of six, and created a parish youth program that could continue long after the volunteers had left the parish.
“The benefit of my two years was the focus it gave me, not only in having a better sense of my identity, but a better sense of what I wanted to do,” said de Fleuriot.
While on the road, de Fleuriot came to know one of his teammates, a physiotherapist. “He said: ‘Robbie, you don’t want to be a doctor. You want a life. You want to be a physiotherapist.”
Something clicked and the young man knew he had to change his plans. After two years of evangelizing with NET, de Fleuriot went to a post-secondary school to study kinesiology and theology.
“It drove me to do seven years of school. The momentum of that really came from that time (with NET), where I was able to get a better sense of myself and who I was, what my faith meant to me, and how that defined me.”
He finished school as a physiotherapist, went to work in Alberta, and in a few short years, had the opportunity to open his own clinic back home in B.C.
“NET was about creating Catholic leaders in the world,” said de Fleuriot, who tries to run his business with the same values he learned in theology studies and two years on mission.
His parents were skeptical at first when their eldest son John Paul (followed by Robbie) talked about taking a year off after graduating from high school.
“I had a little bit of reservation,” said their father Eric de Fleuriot, a practical man with a 39-year career in bridge engineering. “If they don’t get down to their studies now, and go away for a year or two, they may never” go back to school.
“I had a little bit of reservation… If they don’t get down to their studies now, and go away for a year or two, they may never (go back to school).”
Their mother, Louise, convinced Eric that it was a good idea and he eventually let John Paul join NET, hoping after he returned “he would get back into what he needed to do to have a family and a stable life and all the things I would hope as a father.”
Louise was impressed with the spiritual and personal growth in their sons and soon found herself trying to convince the rest of their children to try a gap year.
“Robbie came back more solid. He knew who he was. He had defined direction, and he’s carried that through to his personal life,” she said. “Being away from home gives them that time to develop themselves and form themselves more and solidify their faith.”
De Fleuriot and his parents are featured sharing their reservations and excitement in taking a year off in a recent video as part of the Archdiocese of Vancouver’s Catholic Gap Year campaign.
The campaign, launched March 5, aims to inform other young Catholics about the possibilities for faith formation and personal growth during a gap year, as well as available $500 bursaries. More information is available at catholicgapyear.ca.
