Welcome, Bishop Wester

The Most Rev. John C. Wester, the new bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, brings an impressive background to his new role as spiritual leader of some 200,000 Utah Catholics.

Bishop Wester, 56, has been described as a roll-up-the-sleeves leader, one who not only visits ill and elderly parishioners but helps tidy up their homes. Bishop Wester served as the Archdiocese of San Francisco's point man on some 175 lawsuits filed against the archdiocese alleging clergy sexual abuse. In that role, he spent countless hours listening to victims and meeting with offending priests, a responsibility that one colleague said required a lot of energy, finesse, political acumen and a deep spirituality.

In recent years Bishop Wester took up the study of Spanish, which should aid his ministry in Utah where 70 percent of the state's growing Latino population is Catholic. Bishop Wester also is chairman-elect of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Migration. The Catholic Church's "Welcoming the Stranger Among Us" doctrine seeks to help immigrants integrate into Catholic parishes and American society, he said.

In his inaugural press conference in Salt Lake, Bishop Wester noted the "wonderful ecumenical and interfaith spirit" of the Salt Lake diocese and his eagerness to add to the dialogue. Bishop Wester reached out to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, noting the "wonderful relationship" between the diocese and members of the LDS faith. Bishop Wester succeeds Bishop George Niederauer, who was named archbishop of San Francisco more than a year ago.

Bishop Wester, who has lived, gone to school and worked in the San Francisco Bay area his entire life, joined the seminary at age 13 en route to becoming a priest. One of his missions in Utah will be to encourage more young people to enter the priesthood and to become nuns.

Most recently, Bishop Wester has served as vicar for clergy among other administrative positions in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. He also has been a parish priest and an educator in the Catholic high schools in Kentfield and San Rafael, Calif.

Utahns of all religious backgrounds look forward to Bishop Wester's installation at special Mass at the Cathedral of the Madeleine on March 14 and extend a heartfelt welcome to the ninth bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City since 1891.