A Few Words of Introduction from our Pastor
Fr. Bob Kasun CSB
I am most pleased to be appointed pastor of St. Alphonsus and St. Clare’s Parishes. I have found the people in both communities to be very welcoming, helpful and generous. I am most appreciative of your thoughtfulness and kindness.
Here is a little background about myself. I was born and raised in north central Saskatchewan in a town called Cudworth. After graduation from high school, I attended St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon, where I met the Basilian Fathers who were among my teachers. When I completed my undergraduate degree, I entered the Basilian Fathers novitiate and seminary, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1978. I have served as a high school teacher of English and Religion at Andrean High School in Gary Indiana, St. Charles College in Sudbury, St. Michael’s College School in Toronto and at St. Francis High School in Calgary. I have also served on the Basilian Fathers General Administrative Council in the capacity of Regional Representative for Western Canada. In parish ministry, I have served as associate pastor and pastor of St. Pius X Parish in Calgary, and, for the last eight years as pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Calgary, a lower economic and multiethnic community. During that time, I also served on the Calgary Diocesan Council of Priests, the Diocesan Stewardship Committee, the Diocesan Social Justice Committee, as a member of the Board of Governors for St. Mary’s University College and as Dean of the Fr. Naphin Pastoral Zone. I am an avid reader, mostly of English literature, history and spirituality. I also enjoy riding my motorcycle. (Send me an e-mail if you want a ride. Go to Confession first!)
The mission of the Basilian Fathers is education in the Church’s broader mission of evangelization, and service to the poor. I look forward to working with parishioners in both parishes and in the broader community.
Please pray for me as I do for you.
A Few Words of Introduction from our Associate Pastor
Fr. Mark Gazin CSB
I am glad to be here as associate pastor of St. Alphonsus and St. Clare parishes. People have been very hospitable and welcoming. Raised in Vancouver, I consider myself a western Canadian, although all my priestly ministry has been in Ontario and the southern United States. Allow me to give you some of my priestly and family background.
Born in California in 1958, I have dual citizenship, but grew up in Vancouver, where I attended elementary school, high school and the University of British Columbia. At UBC I met the Basilian Fathers through Campus Ministry. Completing my degree in Spanish, I taught for a year at a Basilian High School in Oakland, California. The next year I entered our novitiate in Detroit and professed my religious vows in 1985. After novitiate, I attended St. Basil's Seminary in Toronto and was ordained to the priesthood in 1990 at my home parish in Vancouver. My first Basilian appointments were to St. John the Baptist Parish in Amherstburg, Ontario for one year and then for two years in Campus Ministry at the University of Western Ontario in London. In 1993, I was appointed Director of Campus Ministry at our Basilian University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas, where I remained for 7 years. While there, I made a wonderful pilgrimage to the Holy Land where I remember celebrating Mass with a great priest in the tomb of Christ. He went on to become bishop of Pembroke and, eventually, Edmonton. In Houston, I served as Chairperson of the Texas Catholic Campus Ministry Association as well as on an Institutional Review Board for a company that did Human Subject Research.
In 2000, I completed a master's degree in theology and spirituality, and was appointed to a parish serving New Mexico State University in Las Cruces (near El Paso, Texas). While in New Mexico, I also administered a small Hispanic parish, where I became fluent in Spanish. In 2002, I requested a six month sabbatical period and in 2003 was appointed to St. Mary's and the Missions in Owen Sound, Ontario. This huge parish drew together nine churches including a First Nations Reserve. While serving this First Nations community I tried to learn Ojibway – a Great Lakes Aboriginal language. The Basilian Fathers withdrew from service to this parish after 144 years and I was re-appointed to St. Basil's Parish in 2007 in Toronto. St. Basil's is our mother church in Canada and is from where the Daily TV Mass is broadcast across the country.
My parents live in Richmond, BC and my brother and his family in Vancouver. My two sisters and their families live in the Los Angeles area of California. I have four nephews and my 94 year old grandmother is still alive. I enjoy reading adventure novels and I love the outdoors, especially camping. I promise to pray daily for both St. Alphonsus and St. Clare parishes. Please remember me in yours.