John C. Wester

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  www.standard.net/topics/health/2009/10/19/h1n1-prompts- - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 10/19/2009    Last Visited: 10/22/2009  

  The changes to the liturgy were ordered in a letter Thursday from Bishop John C. Wester of the Salt Lake City diocese.
  
  Wester asked churches to remove holy water from communal fonts and advised priests to place communion wafers in worshippers' hands, not on their tongues as is often the practice.

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  www.ksl.com/?nid=213&arc=148&timex=1173916069 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 3/14/2007    Last Visited: 3/14/2007  

  Utah's Catholic community celebrates the installation of Bishop John C. Wester this afternoon.The more than 200,000 faithful have anticipated this moment for more than a year.

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  www.sltrib.com/ci_5439748 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 3/15/2007    Last Visited: 3/15/2007  

  Bishop John C. Wester, clothed in elegant robes and miter, walked slowly to the altar at the Cathedral of the Madeleine to become the ninth bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City.
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  Wester, waiting his turn with Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco while others filed in, laughed and chatted and claimed he wasn't nervous - yet. Then his face grew solemn. The sanctuary fell silent as the 1,500 invitation-only crowd awaited the knock that would mark Wester's entry.Only a crying baby, and the ensuing giggles, broke the quiet anticipation.With the clang of a bell, the crowd stood to face the back. Wester went around to the cathedral's front doors and rapped three times and Monsignor J. Terrence
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  People all around snapped photos with their cell phones and Wester proceeded into the sanctuary, sprinkling holy water up and down the aisles.
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  Also in attendance were more than 50 bishops, archbishops and cardinals - Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles and Cardinal Theodore McKerrick from Washington, D.C. In addition to all the dignitaries, dozens of Wester's friends and fellow priests made the trip from San Francisco, where Wester has lived all of his 56 years. The Rev. Pietro Sambi, papal nuncio to the United States, read a letter from Pope Benedict XVI appointing Wester the spiritual leader to Utah's nearly 200,000 Catholics. In remarks and in reading the pope's letter, Sambi counseled Wester to "radiate the face of Christ
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  "Take a deep breath, not you but me," Wester said as he stood at the pulpit for the first time, eliciting a laugh from the audience. He thanked his mother, brother and two sisters for being there and then became quite emotional when noting that his father, who died in 1999, also was present. "He was also a crier," Wester quickly joked."Thanks, Dad." In his prepared sermon, Wester went back and forth between English and Spanish, recognizing that more than half of Utah's Catholics are Spanish speakers.He described the relationship between a bishop and his diocese as a "friendship marked by service, by giving of ourselves to others in selflessness and imitation of the one who first loves us." "I am here to ask for your friendship, a friendship that will enhance my closeness to the Lord," Wester said.
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  Bishop John Charles Wester

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  www.archindy.org/criterion/national/08-10-briefs.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/10/2007    Last Visited: 8/15/2007  

  Bishop Wester joins Utah community in prayers for trapped miners
  
  HUNTINGTON, Utah (CNS) -- Although he said "fear, anxiety and anger are common human emotions" during the long wait for word on the fate of six miners trapped in the Crandall Canyon Mine outside Huntington, Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City urged the miners' families, colleagues and rescuers Aug. 9 to place themselves "in God's presence.""God will answer our prayers either with the safe return of the six miners to us, or the grace to see us through our loss," he said during a Mass in the tiny mission church of San Rafael in Huntington.

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  www.americancatholic.org/news/report.aspx?id=1637 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 9/17/2009    Last Visited: 9/18/2009  

  "The current environment dehumanizes our fellow human beings and diminishes us as a nation," said Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the migration committee of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

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  www.irishamericannews.com/index.php/people/migration/12 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 2/1/2010    Last Visited: 2/13/2010  

  Bishop John C. Wester, bishop of Salt Lake City, Utah, and chairman of the USCCB Committee on Migration, and Bishop Howard J. Hubbard, bishop of Albany, New York, and chairman of the International Policy Committee of the USCCB, made the announcement.
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  "It is our view, and that of others, that the American public, including the Catholic and other faith communities, want a humane and comprehensive solution to the problems which beset our immigration system, and they want Congress to address this issue," said Bishop Wester.
  
  Steps announced by Bishop Wester include:

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  thecatholicspirit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 1/6/2010    Last Visited: 1/7/2010  

  In a teleconference Jan. 6, Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the bishops' Committee on Migration, described several steps being undertaken by the U.S. bishops, including a new Web site, a nationwide action alert and a previously announced postcard campaign to encourage members of Congress to support comprehensive reform. The Web site is a revamped version of www.justiceforimmigrants.org.
  
  "The American public, including the Catholic and other faith communities, want a humane and comprehensive solution to the problems which beset our immigration system, and they want Congress to address this issue," Bishop Wester said.

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  www.americancatholic.org/news/report.aspx?id=1922 - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 12/1/2009    Last Visited: 12/1/2009  

  Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Migration, predicted in a Nov. 17 interview with Catholic News Service that the prospects for Congress to pass immigration legislation will depend a great deal on how health care reform fares in the coming weeks.
  
  If health care reform fails to pass, Bishop Wester told CNS at the U.S. bishops' fall general assembly in Baltimore, it will mean the political parties are so divided that the chance of passing immigration reform will be greatly diminished.
  
  However, success with health care legislation will bode well for an immigration bill, he said: "That will mean there's a momentum in the country."
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  Bishop Wester said he's confident that his fellow bishops are ready and willing to work to help pass a comprehensive reform bill.
  
  "The bishops know the stories, they see the people, the human faces," he said. One of the biggest problems with previous attempts to pass immigration reform, said Bishop Wester, was that the "loud, strident voices" opposed to reform caused many members of Congress to hesitate to support legislation.

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  www.icatholic.org/indstory/2007/200709pa12.html - [Cached Version]
  Published on: 8/31/2009    Last Visited: 8/31/2009  

  SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. —When Bishop John Charles Wester was ordained a bishop in 1998 and named auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, he was quoted as saying to the Catholic Community of San Francisco: "You will see yourselves reflected in my ministry to you."
  
  At the farewell Mass for Bishop Wester celebrated Feb. 20 in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, the people of San Francisco, Catholic and non-Catholic attendees, heard Bishop Wester thank them for helping form him in his episcopal ministry.
  
  San Francisco, he said in his homily, has always made him feel at home, whether he'd been away studying in the seminary for a couple of years or had been traveling out of the country.
  
  On March 14 Bishop Wester will be installed as the Diocese of Salt Lake City's ninth bishop.
  
  "I've had my hair cut in the Amazon Barber Shop since 1951," he said. "I feel as though I have always known Marty, and Marty has known me. In 1964, I went into the seminary, and for years I was away studying. When I returned to San Francisco, I went back to the Amazon Barber Shop. When I went in and took a seat, Marty looked up from the hair he was cutting and said, 'Hello, John.' I answered, 'Hi, Marty.' It was as if I'd never left. Marty's simple greeting was like a quiet re-introduction to the city, and I felt very much at home."
  
  At the beginning of the Mass, which had as its theme, "I Am The Vine, You Are The Branches," Archbishop George H. Niederauer looked out at the crowded pews and said of Bishop Wester: "When you have been a wonderful priest and bishop for 31 years, you, too can have all these friends.
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  All had come to honor Bishop Wester as he moves on in service. The cathedral was filled with the people and the memories of Bishop Wester's 31 years of ministry in San Francisco.
  
  "The Bay area and this part of the city I know well will always be at home in me," Bishop Wester said. "In John's Gospel tonight we heard the words, 'Abide in me.' We are called to remain in Jesus through our love of him and one another. By being at one with Christ we will experience the ebb and flow of Christ."
  
  Serving as an acolyte for the farewell Mass was Diocese of Salt Lake City Seminarian Thomas Stinger, who is studying for the priesthood at St. Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park.
  
  Drawing from the first reading from Hosea, Bishop Wester reminded those present that nothing can get between the love God has for us unless we let it.
  
  "I have lived for 56 years in this local church," he said. "I was baptized at St. Ann of the Sunset. I went to school in the archdiocesan system. I will take all that you have taught me as I move on to my new assignment in the Diocese of Salt Lake City. I am the bishop you have helped me become."
  
  Bishop Wester recalled the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, celebrated in December, when people of all ethnic groups gathered around one table. He called it "an encounter of love and generosity."
  
  "We are all co-workers in the vineyard of the Lord," he said. "I spent 12 years being formed in the seminary, and have learned much from each of the healing ministries, and I must say, this is not a farewell. This is a time to be cheered; a time for us to be brothers and sisters with each other. Yes, this is an emotional time. Let us greet it with joy."
  
  Speaking from his own vocation experience, Bishop Wester said the home is the first seminary, and added, almost shyly, "I think Dad would be proud.
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  Bishop Wester also thanked teachers and students of the schools he has attended – St. Raphael's Elementary School - and taught - Marin Catholic High School. He said he was especially grateful to members of the Victim Survivor Group with whom he has worked throughout the clergy sex abuse crisis.
  
  With his special gifts for outreach toward those of other faiths, Bishop Wester recognized members of the Buddhist Catholic Dialogue.
  
  "I also want to thank especially Father David Pettingill and the other members of our support group."
  
  "I will never forget you," Bishop Wester told the congregation. "We are one in Christ the Lord the vine."
  
  A touching message of farewell was read by Jesuit Father Stephen A. Barber of the University of San Francisco, chaplain at San Quentin Prison, where Bishop Wester has earned the name, "Big John."
  
  The Catholic community at the prison has taken the name, Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Community. There they have a Catholic institute of studies and interfaith studies, wrote inmate Leonard Rubio, who thanked Bishop Wester for the Easter vigils he has celebrated at San Quentin, baptizing inmates.
  
  "Bishop Wester brought redemption and hope.

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  www.americanpapist.com/labels/anti-catholicism.html - [Cached Version]
  Last Visited: 5/25/2009  

  Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee for Migration and Refugee Services, said the ACLU would only further exploit women by making the USCCB work with abortion businesses.
  
  .... Wester told LifeNews.com that the lawsuit would hurt, not help, trafficking victims and would violate the First Amendment religious liberty rights of the USCCB.(LifeNews)

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