Filipino first Asian to head US diocese
A Filipino bishop has become the first Asian to head a Catholic diocese in the United States (US).
The Vatican has announced that Bishop Oscar A. Solis will be the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City in Utah.
Solis is currently an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in California.
The Salt Lake City diocese has been vacant after Bishop John Charles Wester was transferred to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, in April 2015, a CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines) News post said.
The prelate said his appointment is “a recognition of the diversity of the Church in America and the universality of the Church.”
“It is a tremendous blessing and a responsibility and a privilege to be of service to the local Church in the United States of America, coming from the Philippines,” Solis said in an interview with the Los Angeles diocesan newspaper, Angelus News.
In 2003, Solis became the first Filipino to be appointed as bishop in the US when he was named as an auxiliary to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by Pope John Paul II.
In a statement, Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez said “our loss will be a gift to the family of God in Salt Lake City. I know that Bishop Solis will be for them a model of prayer and compassion and a great bishop. And I fully expect that he will become the leading voice for the millions of Filipino Catholics in this country, who are a beautiful sign of growth and renewal in our Church and in our country.”
Born in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija, in 1953, Solis was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cabanatuan on April 28, 1979.
From 1979-1984, he held various positions within the diocese, including rector of the diocesan high school and college seminary, the vocations director, a professor, and member of the diocesan priests council.
He was sent to Rome in Italy in 1984 to pursue doctoral studies in Canon Law.
Solis moved to the US in 1984, and served as parochial vicar of a parish in Union City, New Jersey, and later in parishes in Louisiana.
In 1992, with permission from the Ordinary of his diocese in the Philippines, he was incardinated in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, Louisiana. In 2003, he was appointed as the Titular Bishop of Urci and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. As bishop, he served as Episcopal Vicar for Ethnic Ministry from 2004-2009.
Since 2009, he has been Episcopal Vicar of the San Pedro Pastoral Region within the Archdiocese of L.A., and also served on the USCCB Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Island Affairs, first as chairman and later as a member. He speaks English, Tagalog and Spanish.
On Thursday, San Jose Bishop Roberto Mallari congratulated Solis on his new assignment.
“I am proud to say that he is from our diocese. Of course, it is the pride of the Philippines that a Filipino bishop is assigned to take charge of one diocese in USA,” Mallari said. (With a report from Samuel Medenilla)