Bishop Solis celebrates 40th anniversary of priesthood

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Bishop Oscar A. Solis receives a card signed by members of the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women in honor of his 40th anniversary of priesthood. The card was presented at the April 27 Mass, which DCCW members attended as part of their yearly convention.

SALT LAKE CITY — Bishop Oscar A. Solis celebrated the 40th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on April 28.

The diocesan Pastoral Center staff honored the bishop with a luncheon on April 26 at which several people publicly thanked Bishop Solis for his leadership of the diocese.

“It’s just been a real joy to have him here – all the many wonderful things he does for us,” said Deacon George Reade, chancellor. “Thank you, Bishop; we really appreciate you and love you.”

“We are grateful for your leadership,” said Jean Hill, director of the diocesan Office of Life, Justice and Peace. When the bishop speaks about the Catholic viewpoint on current issues in politics or with the press, “he is always very gracious and articulate when he does so, and I appreciate his moral voice throughout our state. … Thank you, Bishop, for all you do for us.”

Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general, reminded those at the luncheon that Bishop Solis left his home in the Philippines, where he was born, raised and ordained, to come to the United States in 1984. After ministering as a priest in New Jersey and Louisiana, in 2004 he was named an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was appointed as the 10th Bishop of Salt Lake City on Jan. 10, 2017.

Creating a home in a new place is difficult, Msgr. Bircumshaw said, but Bishop Solis has done so several times, most recently here in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. “That’s part of the sacrifice of priestly ordination as such, is that you go where you’re asked to go,” he said, adding that Bishop Solis “has done that, and done it for us.”

Bishop Solis began his comments with his trademark humor, saying that it was not he who originally heard the call for his priestly vocation, but his mother. When he was young he told his mother he wanted to become a doctor so he could be rich, but she told him he was going to be a priest. “She was the one who believed in me,” he said.

Although he left the seminary for a time, feeling that he was not meant for the priesthood, he returned about two years later because he couldn’t find fulfillment in teaching or pursuing a law degree.

“You can never win against your mother, or against God’s call,” he said.  

Looking back on his 40 years of priesthood, “on my beautiful, wonderful, inspiring experiences in every place I’ve been to, God has been tremendously, so good in my life,” the bishop said. “I have never had a place where I did not enjoy being a priest. Even when I was taking my post-graduate studies in the university, we had a wonderful time. … There is no reason I can think of why I am so tremendously blessed by our loving God.”

God continues to pour out blessings on him, which is a mystery, he said, “and I don’t know why, because I know deep in my heart that I have never been the best priest nor the best bishop that I could be. I wish I could do better … so I can give more to God and to the Church that has been so good to me.”

He is grateful, he said, and he loves God, but “God loves me more than I love him. Otherwise I wouldn’t be ending up in this place if he does not love me this much. And I found that when you really give your life to God, God is going to give you everything you need. … I would not be standing here today if it were not for the fidelity of God’s love to me. He has guided me and hopefully will continue to guide me. If I do something wrong it is not because of God, it is because of my stubbornness and hard-headedness, thinking that it is my decision; it is not his will.”