VOCATIONS: Sharing Christ’s love with others: Fr Kasun’s journey to priesthood

By Catherine Sheehan

Reading about the saints, those friends of God, can have a powerful evangelising and even life-changing effect. This was certainly the case for Fr Kasun Dananjaya, Assistant Priest of the Bellerive-Lindisfarne Parish.

He first felt the stirrings of a vocation to the priesthood as a young boy growing up in his native country of Sri Lanka. One day when he was in grade six at school he was given a book that transformed his life’s journey.

“I received a book that would quietly change my life,” Fr Kasun said. “It was Shining Stars: Life Stories of Saints. As I turned its pages one story captured my heart: the story of St Joseph Vaz, the Apostle of Sri Lanka,” Fr Kasun said.

“St Joseph Vaz arrived in Ceylon as a missionary with great courage and deep compassion for the faithful who were scattered, forgotten, and suffering.

“Disguised as a beggar, he travelled quietly from place to place, celebrating the sacraments in secret gatherings, often at night. He tenderly cared for the poor and the vulnerable, living with a faith that was both brave and humble.

“His words have stayed with me ever since: ‘Remember that one cannot easily do at the time of death what one has neglected to do all his life.’

“His life awakened in me a desire that became a prayer—and eventually, a dream: to become a priest.”

Inspired by the life of St Joseph Vaz, he drew closer to the life of the Church and began to take his faith more seriously. He became an altar server which gave him greater insight into the ministry of the priesthood.

After he had completed year eleven at school he had another life-changing encounter that solidified his path towards priesthood.

He was at home one day when a priest known to his family arrived unexpectedly and mysteriously asked him, “Are you ready?”

“He then said, ‘If you would like to begin seminary formation, come to the seminary this evening.’

“I had never imagined entering the seminary in such a sudden and unexpected way. Yet at that moment I simply said ‘yes’.”

Despite being only 16 at the time, he went to the seminary that evening and never looked back.

He was ordained a priest on 14 September 2021 in Ragama, Sri Lanka, with only 14 people in attendance due to the COVID lockdown.

Fr Kasun describes the tiny congregation as “a blessing in disguise” as it allowed more simplicity and focus, and “not too many distractions”.

“I really enjoyed that moment,” he said.

He served in several parishes in Sri Lanka, and also on the Mission Team, the Formation Team, and as Regional Vocation Coordinator at the Redemptorist Congregation in Colombo.

Fr Kasun arrived in Tasmania in 2024 and was appointed to the Bellerive-Lindisfarne Parish for a three-year term.

He feels grateful that God chose him to serve the community through the priesthood.

“God chooses you to be an instrument of his love through the Eucharist,” Fr Kasun said.

“When you break the body of Christ and share the blood of Christ with others, you are sharing Christ’s love and making his words real, ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly’ (John 10.10). That’s the most important thing for me.”

“He has done wonders through me because I came from a simple family and he lifted me up through gifts and talents. I can’t put it into words what God has done in me.

“I really love being a priest… I feel joyful about it.

“This is the best decision in my life, I could say.”

This is the first instalment of a new regular column dedicated to telling the vocation stories of the priests serving in our Archdiocese.