Full-speed ahead: Bishop adjusts to Utah, speaks out on immigration

On Thursday — the day before he was scheduled to offer a prayer in Utah's Senate chamber — Bishop John C. Wester mused for a moment about what he might include in his plea to God for state legislators.

He joked about using the occasion as a platform to urge compassion on the immigration bill, which has been one of this year's most volatile topics at the Capitol. While he chuckled about the prospects, the issue is clearly top-of-mind for a man who is now at the forefront of discussion about immigration policy in America. In November, he was named chairman of the Committee on Migration of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

While it was not a post he anticipated a year ago — when he was preparing to move to Salt Lake City from San Francisco to serve as Utah's ninth Catholic bishop — he didn't shrink from the appointment.

Some 70 percent of Utah Catholics are Spanish-speaking, and the percentages nationally are rising as well.

"That doesn't mean we open the doors (of the church) because the Anglos are being gracious," he said. "That's who we are."

In the past three months, he's talked with both federal and state lawmakers about the necessity of immigration reform, the particulars of how Christ would treat people and the intricacies of pending legislation that will have a dramatic impact on millions of homes and businesses. He's given two public lectures on the topic and is scheduled to participate in a roundtable discussion next week at the University of Utah.

With a full load of administrative duties, visits to Utah's far-flung parishes and pastoral care work to balance in the mix, he's scarcely had time to catch his breath since being installed as bishop on March 14, 2007.

Friends who said farewell in San Francisco predicted Bishop Wester would be a "full-speed" and "hands-on" leader, determined to immerse himself in the issues unique to his office. He admits he hasn't had time to do to much else, other than squeeze in occasional days off to clear his head.

"I've taken up snowshoeing," he said, citing a recent trip up Mill Creek Canyon. "But I don't ski. I subscribe to Erma Bombeck's philosophy: I don't like to participate in a sport where there's an ambulance nearby."

He's been impressed by Utahns in general, he said, and their ready support for religious devotion, family and strong moral values. "It's a very hospitable place, and the people are very gracious," whether it comes from an early history of religious persecution or whether it's simply "in the air."