A FAREWELL mass was held on Wednesday, February 1 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, in honor of Bishop Oscar Solis, who was recently appointed as bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, Utah by Pope Francis. Solis will be installed on Tuesday, March 7, making him the first Filipino-American bishop to lead a diocese in the United States.
Bishop Solis was appointed as Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles on December 11, 2003 by Pope John Paul II and was ordained on February 10, 2004, becoming the first Filipino-American elevated to the episcopacy in the history of the United States. He was later promoted to auxiliary bishop of the San Pedro Pastoral District in 2009. For the past seven years, Solis has been responsible for overseeing 67 parishes and eight Catholic high schools in Los Angeles and Long Beach. He has also been the episcopal advisor for the National Association of Filipino Priests since 2011.
“I know what it means to be a pastor, a shepherd of a particular diocese,” Solis previously said following his appointment on Tuesday, January 10. “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.”
