Robert Daniel Conlon (born December 4, 1948) is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who served as bishop of the Diocese of Joliet in Illinois from 2011 to 2020.

[1] After his ordination, Conlon was assigned as associate pastor at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Cincinnati, serving there until July 1982.

[3] He was consecrated on August 6, 2002 by Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk with Bishops Gilbert Sheldon and Sydney Charles serving as co-consecrators.

[4] Within the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Conlon served as the chair of the Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People from 2011 to 2014.

According to The Huffington Post, Conlon ruled that since child molestation was not a serious crime under canon law in the 1970s, the diocese could only limit Ryan in ministry and not remove him completely.

[8] After dealing with large opposition within the diocese to this decision, Conlon reversed himself on September 18, 2012, and permanently removed Ryan from ministry.

In this letter, he wrote of having witnessed "an enormous decline in people's participation in the life of the Church" but that Pope Francis had inspired his attitude.

[14] In a statement, Conlon said he had found 2019 "challenging":"I experienced a lot of stress and fatigue, which I did not always handle well, along with some serious medical issues, plus the death of my best friend....