Robert Michael Kasun (born 20 December 1951) is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the

Archdiocese of Toronto The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Toronto () 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 Thunder Bay ...

and Titular Bishop of Lavellum.

Early life and education

Kasun was born in

Cudworth, Saskatchewan Cudworth () is a 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 River. T ...

, and received a Bachelor's degree in English at

St. Thomas More College St. Thomas More College (STM) is a Catholic, undergraduate, liberal arts college located in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a federated college of the University of Saskatchewan. History St. Thomas More College (STM), named for St. Th ...

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, 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 Hig ...

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

Master of Divinity For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and ...

by the University of St. Michael's College. He later attended the

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

and received Bachelor of Education (BEd) and Master of Education (MEd). He was ordained a priest in the Congregation of Saint Basil on 24 June 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 36,444 at the 2020 census. Merrillville is in east-central Lake County, in the Chicago metropolitan area. On January 1, 2015, Merrillville bec ...

, 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 List of the largest cities and t ...

, 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 all-boys Catholic private school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Administered by the Congregation of St. Basil, it is the largest school of its kind in Canada ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. After moving to teach at St. Francis High School in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, 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. Secular priests (sometimes known as diocesan priests) are priests who commit themselves to a certain geographi ...

in the

Archdiocese of Edmonton The Archdiocese of Edmonton () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese in the Canadian civil province of Alberta and the seat of its archbishop is at St. Joseph Cathedral (Edmonton), St. Joseph Cathedral, a minor basilica in Edm ...

, ministering at two inner-city parishes in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. As pastor in Edmonton, Kasun sought to increase fundraising for the local homeless population and advocated for the

Sudanese diaspora The demographics of Sudan include the Sudanese people () and their characteristics, Sudan, including population density, ethnicity, education level, health, economic status, religious affiliations, and other aspects of the population. In Sudan' ...

to maintain celebration of

Mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...

Dinka The Dinka people () are a Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Mangalla-Bor to Renk, in the region of Bahr el Ghazal, Upper Nile (two out of three provinces that were formerly part of southern ...

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, (IGMR)—is the detailed document governing the celebration of Mass of the Roman Rite in what since 1969 is its normal form. Originally published in 1969 as a separa ...

''. Kasun also work on an

abuse Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

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 ] A Sunday school, sometimes known as a Sabbath school, is an educational institution, usually Christianity, Christian in character and intended for children or neophytes. Sunday school classes usually precede a Sunday church service and are u ...

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 17 June 2016, Kasun was appointed as an

of the

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

. He was

consecrated Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual respect or devotion; or inspires awe or reverence among believers. The property is often ascribed to objects (a ...

as bishop on 12 September 2016, by Cardinal

Thomas Christopher Collins Thomas Christopher Collins (born 16 January 1947) is a Canadian Cardinal (Catholic Church), cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was the Roman Catholic Archbishops of Toronto, Metropolitan Archbishop of Toronto from 2007 to 2023, the Roman Cat ...

, joined by

co-consecrators A consecrator is a bishop who ordains someone to the episcopacy. A co-consecrator is someone who assists the consecrator bishop in the act of ordaining a new bishop. The terms are used in the canon law of the Catholic Church, Lutheran Churche ...

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 Chinese Canadians are Canadians of full or partial Chinese people, Chinese ancestry, which includes both naturalized Chinese immigrants and Canadian-born Chinese. They comprise a subgroup of East Asian Canadians which is a further subgroup of ...

and

Goan Catholics Goan Catholics () are an Ethnoreligious group, ethno-religious community adhering to the Latin Church, Latin Rite of the Catholic Church from the Goa state, in the southern part of the Konkan region along the west coast of India. They are Konka ...

in the archdiocese. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Kasun and fellow auxiliary bishop

Vincent Nguyen Vincent Nguyen, also known as Vincent Nguyễn Mạnh Hiếu (born Nguyễn Mạnh Hiếu on May 8, 1966) is an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Toronto. On November 6, 2009 Nguyen was appointed by Pope Benedict XVI as one of two new Auxili ...

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