Before May 19, Bishop-designate Ken Thorson, OMI, was primed and excited over his next appointment from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate Canada: serving as pastor of St. Joseph’s Church in Ottawa.

“My heart was set on being with the people there for likely the next six years and (I was) going about getting everything in place administratively and with the parish staff,” said Thorson, who served as provincial superior of OMI Lacombe from January 2019 to June 2025.

The 59-year-old Saskatoon product had no inclination whatsoever that a homecoming to his home province was instead in the offing.

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Thorson was informed during a phone call from Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, that Pope Leo XIV intends to appoint him to serve the 79 parishes and missions comprising the Diocese of Prince Albert.

“It was a real surprise, and I have to say, ultimately, most humbling to be asked,” said Thorson in an interview with The Catholic Register. “I look forward to trying to assist in carrying out the vision of the Pope, of Pope Leo, and assisting in that with the bishops of Canada and in Prince Albert.”

Without divulging what was discussed during the call with Jurkovic, Thorson surmised that one reason he was selected to succeed Bishop Stephen Hero, now Archbishop of Edmonton, was because of his extensive leadership experience, including six years as vicar provincial for the Oblates before his two terms as provincial superior.

Another rationale offered by Thorson is that there is a significant Indigenous presence populating this diocese and he and his fellow Oblates have devoted meaningful effort in recent years towards the cause of reconciliation and shedding light on the congregation’s role in the residential school system. Many historical records have been turned over to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

Thorson is resolute in continuing the important work of reconciliation in the diocese where he spent his teenage years with his parents, Chester and Joanne, and four siblings. They moved to Nipawin in 1979, and his parents continued residing there for 39 years. He completed a year of seminary formation in the diocese before discerning a vocation with the Oblates.

At 25, Thorson entered the Oblate Novitiate of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in Arnprior, Ont., and then delved into philosophical and theological studies in Saskatoon, Edmonton, Toronto and Rome. He professed his first vows on Aug. 14, 1993, his perpetual vows on Aug. 19, 1997, and was ordained to the priesthood on May 21, 1999.

Following an early appointment as pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Saskatoon from 1999 to 2003, along with serving as chaplain of E.D. Feehan Catholic High School, Thorson has been called eastward and abroad for 23 years.

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In 2003, he was assigned to Birmingham, England, to serve in a new community tasked with exploring the Oblate mission in a secular, interfaith context. In 2008, Thorson was appointed vocation director of OMI Lacombe’s St. Charles Formation Community in Ottawa, a role he held for five years before beginning his tenure as vicar provincial.

While Oblate assignments have placed him far away from Prince Albert, word did reach him of the fruits being generated under the guidance of Hero.

“Certainly, what I know in speaking with a few people, including Archbishop Hero, is they spent a significant time on their synodal process,” said Thorson. “They discerned the ‘Cor Novum’ five-year pastoral plan. They developed some, I think, really compelling pastoral priorities for the diocese. I look at that, and I see the work of a man and a group of people with whom he was working who are really trying, we're really trying to follow in the line of Pope Francis and his invitation to discern synodally the way forward as a Church.”

The four pastoral priorities established under “Cor Novum: A New Heart” are walking together (open hearts), evangelizing Eucharist (burning hearts), faith-filled families (believing hearts) and calling to priesthood (giving hearts).

In homage to this spirit of synodality and akin to all bishops commencing work in a new diocese, Thorson intends to spend at least his first full year largely listening to and observing the clerical and lay leaders who have devoted many years of service to the Catholic community of Prince Albert.

Following Archbishop Susai Jesu, OMI, who was installed in Keewatin-Le Pas on Jan. 27, Thorson is the second Canadian Oblate chosen to lead a Canadian diocese in 2026, a notable accomplishment during the 200th year since the congregation founded by St. Eugene de Mazenod received papal approval.

Thorson acknowledged that some of his brother Oblates have “expressed mixed feelings” at this appointment because “we’re smaller in number today” and now there are “in a relatively short span of time two Oblates who are relatively young within the community called from the community.”

But on the whole, Thorson said, the “Oblates are genuinely pleased with the appointment. The encouragement that I've received and the assurance of prayers that I've received is deeply gratifying and humbling.”

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He glowingly praised this congregation for playing such a vital role in his spiritual formation over the past 34 years.

The installation of Thorson as Bishop of Prince Albert will take place during the second half of August. An official date will be announced soon.