Soto to be Sacramento bishop

Orange County Auxiliary Bishop Jaime Soto -- a leading voice for immigration rights and a longtime community activist -- will become bishop of Sacramento, Roman Catholic Church officials announced Thursday.

Soto, 51, will soon start serving as coadjutor, the second-highest position in the Sacramento Diocese, which covers 20 counties and serves 500,000 parishioners.

When Sacramento Bishop William K. Weigand retires in about five years, Soto is slated to assume his duties, said Ryan Lilyengren, spokesman for the Diocese of Orange. Weigand is 70.

Soto made the announcement Thursday morning at a news conference in Sacramento.

“No one in leadership should come here focused only on the frantic frenzy of the Capitol,” Soto said. “What matters most to California is the rhythm and rituals of our diverse homes and neighborhoods, the hum and whirl of our commerce and industry . . . the ambitions of our youth, the hymns and harmonies sung in our churches and temples, and the sweat and sacrifices of all Californians, whose hopes and aspirations are boundless.”

A celebratory Mass will be held in Orange County on Nov. 3 to say goodbye to Soto, whose last day will be Nov. 7. The diocese has not announced where the Mass will be held. On Nov. 19, a Mass of welcome will be held at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento.

“I am grateful and delighted by the appointment of Bishop Soto as he joins me to serve the people of God in the Diocese of Sacramento,” Weigand said in a statement.

Soto has served as an auxiliary bishop in the Orange County diocese since 2000, when he was appointed by Pope John Paul II.

While the Sacramento Diocese is much larger in area, Orange County’s boasts twice as many parishioners.

A 1974 graduate of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Soto was ordained in 1982 after receiving his master’s of divinity degree at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo. His first assignment was to St. Joseph Church in Santa Ana for two years.

He spent two years at Columbia University in New York, where he received a master’s degree in social work in 1986.

Soto returned to O.C. to become associate director of Catholic Charities in Orange and director of Immigration and Citizenship Services, an appointment he held for about three years. In that role, he helped immigrants apply for amnesty in 1987, which he said quickly immersed him in the issues facing the Latino community.

Amin David, who heads Los Amigos of Orange County, a Latino advocacy group, said he was impressed by how closely Soto worked with people in the Latino community.

“Of course this is a step in his wonderful career. But speaking selfishly, it’s hard to let him go. He has stood fast with us on so many delicate issues,” David said.

No replacement has been named for Soto, Lilyengren said. Soto said he was unaware until a few weeks ago of the plan to move him to Sacramento.

“What will be a new experience for me is not so much the Capitol across the street from the cathedral, but the rural diocese with mountains and streams. I’m a city boy,” Soto said. “As I prepare to pass through the portals of this new adventure, my thoughts still linger on the family and friends in the Diocese of Orange who have carried me, caressed me, pushed me.”

jennifer.delson@latimes.com