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Carole Mikita Reporting Utah's Catholic community is welcoming a new leader.
This decision comes directly from Pope Benedict XVI with undoubtedly some help from Salt Lake's former bishop. The Most Reverent John C. Wester met with reporters for the first time today to talk about his goals for the diocese.
The Most Reverend John C. Wester, new Bishop of Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City: "I must say, it's very obvious God is present here...It's a beautiful, beautiful place..."
After nearly a year-long search, members of Utah's Catholic Diocese say their prayers have been answered with the appointment of the Most Reverend John C. Wester.
Conversant in Spanish, Bishop Wester will step into a statewide diocese of 200-thousand members, the majority of them Hispanic. He hopes to help the poor and the immigrants.
The Most Rev. John C. Wester: "It's very tragic, the division oftentimes in immigration families get divided...and I think we especially have to prioritize that and have laws that recognize that to bring families back together again..."
Bishop Wester came from San Francisco. He introduced and later worked with the new Archbishop there.
Archbishop Niederauer was the former bishop of Salt Lake's Diocese before he became Archbishop of San Francisco. He would have suggested a replacement whose name then went to the Papal Nuncio in Washington, D.C; it then went on to the Vatican where Cardinal Leveda, Archbishop Niederauer's close friend, serves the Pope.
The Most Rev. John C. Wester: "The Diocese of Salt Lake City is in the San Francisco Archdiocen Province, so, for that reason, I figure it's a possibility..."
A former educator, pastor and administrator, Bishop Wester says he will leave family and friends to move here but does so with hope for the future.
The Most Rev. John C. Wester: "The warm welcome I've already received...tells me that God's already at work on this point and that it's not gonna be easy but it's gonna be a graced transfer because of the people I'm coming to and to serve..."
After day-long meetings here, Bishop Wester returns to San Francisco tomorrow. He will come back to stay a few days before his installation in the Cathedral of the Madeleine on March 14th.
