Auxiliary Bishop John C. Wester of San Francisco has been named the new head of the Diocese of Salt Lake City by Pope Benedict XVI, it was announced Jan. 8.

Bishop Wester, 56, is to be installed in Salt Lake City March 14 in ceremonies at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. He succeeds Archbishop George H. Niederauer, who had served as head of Utah's only diocese from 1995 to 2006, when he was installed as archbishop of San Francisco.

At a news conference in Salt Lake City, he said, "I look forward to forging friendships with you and all our sisters and brothers in Christ in the years ahead."

"I am definitely the 'new kid on the block,'" he added. "I have a lot to learn and I therefore must be an attentive listener to you, the priests and deacons, religious and faithful."

He also addressed the news media briefly in Spanish, noting that many of the Catholics in Utah are Spanish-speaking. "He estado tratando de perfeccionar este bello idioma (I have been trying to master this beautiful language)," he said.

Bishop Wester has been vicar general of the San Francisco Archdiocese since his episcopal ordination in 1998 and archdiocesan vicar for clergy since 1997.

He was apostolic administrator of the archdiocese in 2005-06 between the time Archbishop (now Cardinal) William J. Levada was called into Vatican service in May 2005 and Archbishop Niederauer was installed to succeed him in San Francisco in February 2006. Both Cardinal Levada and Archbishop Niederauer were first ordained as priests for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

John Charles Wester was born in San Francisco Nov. 5, 1950. He was ordained a priest of the archdiocese in May 1976 after studies at St. Joseph's High School Seminary, St. Joseph's College Seminary and St. Patrick's Seminary, all seminaries of the archdiocese.

Following ordination, while engaged in pastoral work he also earned a master's degree in spirituality from the University of San Francisco and a master's degree in pastoral counseling from Holy Names College in Oakland.

Between 1976 and 1997 he served successively as associate pastor of St. Raphael Parish in San Rafael, teacher and administrator at Marin Catholic High School in Kentfield, assistant superintendent of Catholic schools, administrative assistant to the archbishop and pastor of St. Stephen Parish in San Francisco.

He was named archdiocesan vicar for clergy in 1997 and continued in that post, along with new duties as vicar general, after he was named a bishop the following year.

When convicted murderer Stanley "Tookie" Williams was executed at San Quentin State Prison in December 2005, Bishop Wester, then administrator of the archdiocese, criticized the use of the death penalty. "A moratorium is needed to evaluate whether the death penalty serves the common good and safeguards the dignity of human life," he said. "We are convinced that it does not."

A month later he criticized the execution of Clarence Ray Allen, 76, who was nearly blind and deaf, confined to a wheelchair and suffering advanced heart disease after more than 20 years in prison. "Life in prison without the possibility of parole would have been a just and exacting punishment," Bishop Wester said.

Last April, as workers and immigrants across the country held rallies for humane reform of immigration laws, he celebrated a standing-room-only Mass at San Francisco's historic Mission Dolores to pray, in his words, "that our political leaders will find a just path for our immigrants."

In the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Bishop Wester is a consultant to the Committee on Migration and the Subcommittee on Interreligious Dialogue of the Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. He is a member or former member of the bishops' Committee on the Laity and its Subcommittee on Lay Ministry and the committees on Pastoral Practices, Vocations, World Mission and Nomination of Conference Offices.

He is Catholic co-chairman of the Northern California Chan/Zen Dialogue, which was begun in 2003 and meets annually. Chan and Zen are the respective Japanese and Chinese names for a meditative school of Buddhism.

In 2004 Bishop Wester was one of 13 bishops who participated in a four-day national institute studying Islam; the Quran, the sacred book of Islam; and Catholic-Muslim relations.

The Diocese of Salt Lake City covers all of Utah, where 47 parishes serve about 200,000 Catholics in a total population of 2.4 million.

---CNS