Father Ken Vialpando will return to his home parish

Friday, Jun. 24, 2016

(Editor’s note: This is the last in a series of profiles of the priests who have been given assignments as parish administrators in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Appointments that might have been made as “pastor” were made as “administrator” in accordance with canon law when a diocese is without a bishop.

OGDEN — Father Ken Vialpando, who has been pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Ogden since 2004, has been reassigned to St. Marguerite Parish in Tooele, where he grew up. 

Ever since hearing the announcement of the transfer, “I have been filled with excitement and joy,” said Fr. Vialpando, who remembers exactly where he was when he got the call.

“It was on Thursday, Jan. 28 at 11:42 a.m.,” he said. “After that, I jumped out of my chair, knowing that I would be returning to the parish where I received five of the seven sacraments: Baptism, First Reconciliation, Holy Communion, Confirmation and Holy Orders – the Cathedral of the Madeleine was being renovated. I’m assuming eventually I will receive the Sacrament of Anointing” at the church.

Being ordained as a deacon and as a priest in St. Marguerite Catholic Church was a joy, he said. “It gave me a great opportunity to get my start in my home parish in the presence of the people who were responsible for planting those seeds of faith in me. I certainly want to give credit to them now, specifically my parents; they not only gave me religious instruction at home, they made sure to enroll me in catechism classes every year at St. Marguerite from first grade through twelfth, exposing me to great lay teachers, religious sisters, deacons and priests.” 

Some of Fr. Vialpando’s friends had the insight that he would become a priest before he did, he said. 

“They would tell me I was going to grow up and be a priest, but I joined the U.S. Marine Corps following high school,” he said. “It was in the Marine Corps that my prayer life increased – I had to pray every day, ‘Lord, help me make it through this day.’ He helped me make it through boot camp and through my assignments.”

Fr. Vialpando also met a captain who was interested in becoming a priest and who encouraged other Marines to attend Mass and Bible studies. 

“He, plus others, inspired me to at least look into the seminary,” Fr. Vialpando said.

After being discharged from the Marine Corps, Fr. Vialpando spent some time discerning his vocation. He entered Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon in 1983, then attended St. Thomas Seminary in Denver and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Ohio. He was ordained a priest by the Most. Rev. William K. Weigand, seventh Bishop of Salt Lake City, in 1991.

Fr. Vialpando’s first assignment as a priest was teaching at Judge Memorial Catholic High School. 

In 1994, he received his first assignment as administrator and then pastor, to St. Pius X in Moab, which also included the missions of St. Joseph in Monticello and Sacred Heart in La Sal. He then spent seven years at Our Lady of Guadalupe in Salt Lake City before going to St. Joseph Parish in Ogden.

When Fr. Vialpando first arrived in Moab, he thought, ‘This is a big parish I’m not going to be able to handle this and travel to the missions,’ but God’s grace enabled him to minister the missions as well, he said. 

“At that point, I thought I was overworked, with 100 families, until I was transferred to Our Lady of Guadalupe, with 500 families, where I also was overwhelmed. Then I came to St. Joseph, where we now have 5,000 families,” he said. “It just keeps getting bigger, but through the grace of God I’ve been able to do it. God can multiply the gift of his grace and through the work of the people together we can become one big family – one body in Christ. It’s the work of the people who help me do my ministry, no matter what assignment I’ve been given.”

In 2012, Fr. Vialpando was honored by Utah Catholic Schools with the Christ the Teacher award.

“Fr. Ken is one of the most hardworking, conscientious, and kind priests I have ever known,” said Msgr. Colin F. Bircumshaw, diocesan administrator of the Diocese of Salt Lake City. “Sometimes I think Pope Francis named this Year of Mercy after him. Fr. Ken has left a wonderful legacy for Saint Joseph Parish with the new parish center; and his new assignment to his hometown of Tooele is proof that one can go home again after all. Any parish to which he is assigned is richly blessed.”

When Fr. Vialpando arrives at St. Marguerite Parish, he wants to build on the foundation that has already been set there by Christ and all the clergy, deacons, religious sisters and lay people, and continue to help the parish grow, he said. “It is a parish that has been thriving for the past 116 years with 10 vocations: five priests and five deacons.”