Bishop Oscar Solis named Bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah

The 300,000 Catholics in Utah have spent the last 21 months anticipating who will become their 10th Bishop, and today at Roman Noon, their wait came to an end. Pope Francis has named Auxiliary Bishop Oscar A. Solis of Los Angeles as the bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah. 

Bishop Solis was born on October 13, 1953, in San Jose, Nueva Ecija, Philippines. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1979 in San Jose City, Philippines. In 1988, Bishop Solis arrived in the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux and served as an associate pastor of St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Thibodaux, as pastor of Our Lady of Prompt Succor in Golden Meadow, and then returned to the Co-Cathedral where he served as a pastor from 1999 to 2003. Additionally, he has served the diocese as a member of the Diocesan Personnel Board, the College of Consultors, the Priests Council, and as Dean of the South Lafourche Deanery and the Upper Lafourche Deanery. 

In December 2003, Solis was appointed as an Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. He was the first Filipino-American to be ordained a bishop in the United States.  His episcopal ordination took place on February 10, 2004 at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels. Solis was head of the Coordinating Council to help serve and unite the many diverse ethnic groups that make up the five million Catholics of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. 

Bishop Shelton Fabre congratulates Bishop Solis on his new appointment.  Solis’ 15 years of service and pastoral counsel to the people of the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux are affectionately remembered and deeply appreciated.