Bishop Solis visits HAFB

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Bishop Oscar A. Solis blesses the Stations of the Cross in the Hill Air Force Base chapel. See more photos on the Intermountain Catholic Facebook page.

OGDEN — For Bishop Oscar A. Solis, the Sunday Mass on Oct. 22 was a typical liturgy, but his congregation was somewhat unusual: Sitting in the front pew were Col. Jennifer Hammerstedt, Commander of the 75th Air Base Wing at Hill Air Force Base; Major Zebulon Beck, the wing’s chaplain; and Col. Michael Holl, the base’s parish council president.

In addition, the Mass gave Bishop Solis a chance to reunite with an old classmate. His concelebrant, Father Max Omaña, and he attended theology courses together 38 years ago at the University of St. Thomas Seminary in Manila, the Philippines.

During the Mass, Bishop Solis also blessed the Stations of the Cross that had been installed at the beginning of the month. Because the chapel is used by people of various faiths, it must be a neutral area, with no overt religious symbols. To meet this requirement, the parish commissioned Jim Wypijewski of Red Dog Woodworks to construct cabinets to enclose the stations. The cabinets, which are made of oak, are 14” by 16.” The background is a purple matting.

During Mass, the cabinet doors are open and the stations are visible. After Mass, the doors are closed.

The stations “distinguish our chapel twice a week as a Catholic church because only the Catholic Church has the Stations of the Cross. … Now, we can open them up during Mass and make it look as a Catholic service is supposed to look,” said John Collen, a parishioner who contacted Wypijewski when Fr. Omaña requested the stations be installed.

Before the stations were installed, for the Stations of the Cross ritual on Fridays during Lent, the parishioners had to put them up and take them down individually, a process that took about 20 minutes, Collen said.