Robert Kasun (born December 20, 1951) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

auxiliary bishop of the

Archdiocese of Toronto The Archdiocese of Toronto ( la, Archidioecesis Torontina) is a Roman Catholic archdiocese that includes part of the Province of Ontario. Its archbishop is also the ecclesiastical provincial for the dioceses of Hamilton, London, Saint Catharines ...

and Titular Bishop of Lavellum.

Early life and education

Kasun was born in

Cudworth, Saskatchewan Cudworth () is a small town in Saskatchewan, Canada. Cudworth is located approximately 85 km north-east of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan in the Minnichinas Hills. Cudworth is in hilly partially forested country east of the South Saskatchewan ...

, and received a Bachelor's degree in English at St. Thomas More College in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

. He joined the Congregation of Saint Basil, and was awarded a Master of Divinity by the

University of St. Michael's College St Michael's College, officially the University of St. Michael's College, is a constituent college of the University of Toronto. It was founded in 1852 by the Congregation of St. Basil and retains its Catholic affiliation through its postgraduat ...

. He later attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

and received Bachelor of Education (BEd) and Master of Education (MEd). He was ordained a priest in the Congregation of Saint Basil on June 24, 1978.

Priesthood

Kasun taught at Basilian schools in

Merrillville, Indiana Merrillville is a town in Ross Township, Lake County, Indiana, United States. The population was 35,246 at the 2010 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville became the ...

, and

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the fifth largest in Canada. It is a ...

, before he was appointed to teach at

St. Michael's College School St. Michael's College School, (also known as St. Michael's, St. Mike's, and SMCS), is an independent, Catholic school for young men in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Administered by the Basilian Fathers, it is the largest school of its kind in Cana ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

. After moving to teach at St. Francis High School in Calgary, he served on the General Council of the Basilian Fathers from 1989 to 1997. From 2009, Kasun served as a

secular priest In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogr ...

in the Archdiocese of Edmonton, ministering at two inner-city parishes in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. As pastor in Edmonton, Kasun sought to increase fundraising for the local homeless population and advocated for the Sudanese diaspora to maintain celebration of

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

Dinka The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out ...

and with their cultural elements so long as they followed the ''

General Instruction of the Roman Missal The ''General Instruction of the Roman Missal'' (GIRM)—in the Latin original, ''Institutio Generalis Missalis Romani'' (IGMR)—is the detailed document governing the celebration of Mass of the Roman Rite in what since 1969 is its normal form. ...

''. Kasun also work on an abuse prevention program in Edmonton, facing a backlash from parishioners for implementing "strict" rules that required windows in every room and multiple adults in Sunday school classes. Efforts by Kasun and others led to the Archdiocese of Toronto receiving Praesidium Accreditation certifying a high standard of abuse prevention.

Episcopal ministry

On June 17, 2016, Kasun was appointed as an auxiliary bishop of the

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

. He was consecrated as bishop on September 12, 2016, by Cardinal

Thomas Christopher Collins Thomas Christopher Collins (born January 16, 1947) is a Canadian cardinal of the Catholic Church. He has been the Archbishop of Toronto since 2007. He was previously Bishop of Saint Paul in Alberta from 1997 to 1999 and Archbishop of Edmo ...

, joined by co-consecrators Archbishop John Michael Miller and Bishop Ronald Peter Fabbro. According to Kasun, among his first reactions to learning of Francis's intent to elevate him as a bishop was "I’ve never in my life done anything extraordinary. I’m just an ordinary simple pastor." He chose "''To bring good news to the poor''" as his episcopal motto, in reference to Luke 4:18. Kasun was officially welcomed to the archdiocese through a Mass at St. Michael's Cathedral, Toronto, on 6 October 2016. As an auxiliary bishop, Kasun has presided over liturgies on behalf of the

Chinese Canadians , native_name = , native_name_lang = , image = Chinese Canadian population by province.svg , image_caption = Chinese Canadians as percent of population by province / territory , pop = 1,715,7704.63% of the ...

and

Goan Catholics Goan Catholics ( gom, Goenchem Katholik) are an ethno-religious community of Indian Christians following the Roman Rite of worship from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konkan ...

in the archdiocese. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, Kasun and fellow auxiliary bishop Vincent Nguyen filled the responsibility of ministering to the northern portion of the archdiocese in the absence of an additional auxiliary bishop.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kasun, Robert Congregation of St. Basil University of Toronto alumni Roman Catholic bishops of Toronto 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests 21st-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests 1951 births Living people