First Asian/American bishop appointed to lead Utah diocese

Bishop Oscar Azarcon Solis

A FILIPINO/AMERICAN immigrant was appointed bishop of a U.S. diocese Tuesday (Jan. 10) indicating the growing diversity of the Catholic American church.

Pope Francis named Bishop Oscar Asarco Solis, an immigrant from the Philippines, to become the bishop of the Salt Lake City diocese, which has been without a leader for 20 months.

The 63-year-old Solis is an auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. In Utah, he succeeds Bishop John C. Wester, who departed in June 2015 to become the archbishop of Santa Fe, N.M.

Solis was born in San Jose City, Philippines, and will be the state's first Filipino bishop. He also is the first Filipino/American bishop ordained in the U.S.

There have been at least two other Asian-American Catholic bishops, according to Rev. Linh Hoang , O.F.M., an associate professor of religious studies at Siena College. They were Bishop Dominic Luong, a Vietnamese American, and Bishop Ignatius Wang, a Chinese American. Both men are retired auxiliary bishops, meaning they were appointed as helpers to a diocesan bishop, who is the official pastoral and legal head of a diocese.

"This is massively significant on the national front," said Rocco Palmo, a prominent Catholic chronicler and editor of Whispers in the Loggia, a church news blog.

About 5 million U.S. Catholics are Asian, Palmo wrote in an email to The Salt Lake Tribune, and they produce a "disproportionately high number of priestly and religious vocations nationwide."

"So for them," Palmo added, "this is going to be a historic shot in the arm far beyond Utah."

The Catholic Church in the U.S. has seen a drop in membership but the influx of Asians, primarily Filipino and Vietnamese, and Latinos has made for an increasingly diverse church.

Of the more than 300,000 Catholics in Utah, about 18,000 of them are Asian, said Susan Dennin, the diocese's communications director. The Filipino community is the largest Asian demographic of the group.

In Los Angeles, Solis, who speaks Spanish, has shown he is "leading the church's understanding of the cultural diversity there and seeking to integrate every group on the wider stage of the archdiocese," Palmo said. "... So having a Spanish-fluent pick with a tremendous amount of experience in both administration and leading a diverse immigrant community ... bodes very well, and the symbolic piece sends a remarkable message."

Solis will be officially installed as bishop of Salt Lake City’s diocese on March 7, according to Vatican Radio.

POPE FRANCIS: Philadelphia's Asian Catholics join the million people Mass

The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters will make a public appearance in order to see the Pope.

A MILLION people from across the United States are expected to attend the outdoor mass officiated by Pope Francis in Philadelphia Sunday (Sept. 27).

Among them will be the Pink Sisters, so-named for the rose-colored habits that they wear. The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters are a group of cloistered nuns who are cloistered, who will venture into the public to attend the mass, a half-mile from their convent.

“He’s not just somebody. He is the vicar of Christ,” said Sister Maria Clarissa, 55 years old, who once worked for an accounting firm in the Philippines. “Even if we’re cloistered, we’re going, and our bishops are saying, ‘Good for you.’ ”

Fifteen of the 20 secluded sisters are from the Philippines.

To see the Pope, they will take a break from  their continuous praying which has been on-going uninterrupted for 100 years. A lone sister will remain behind so the the string of prayers won't be broken.

Across town, historic St. Augustine Church cancelled its Sunday evening Mass so that its parishioners, predominantly Filipino, can attend the Papal Mass. St. Augustine, built right after the Revolutionary War, is now the National Shrine for the Santo Nino, patron saint of the Philippines. Its Filipino dance troupe has been practicing for months to take part in a multicultural performance meant to show the Pope the diversity in America's Catholic parishes.

The church had a declining attendance in the early 1990s. Its traditional German and Irish parishioners had moved to the suburbs. The low point was one Christmas Mass when only nine people attended and one of them was the priest. Rumors of its possible closure began to circulate.

St. Augustine Catholic Church is a story being repeated across America. Even as the Catholic Church is experiencing a loss of parishioners; as its European/Americans move to the suburbs or stop going to church, a new wave of Catholics from Latin America and Asia are reviving church with a new energy as the Catholic Church adapts its services and activities to serve its new laity. The Los Angeles Archdiocese is the largest in the United States and it is 75% Latino.

St. Augustine and churches in the San Francisco Bay Area are dominated by Asian churchgoers, mainly Filipino but healthy numbers of Chinese, Burmese, Korean, Ceylonese and Vietnamese.

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