SALT LAKE CITY — Connecting with Catholics in the widespread local Church – the Diocese of Salt Lake City comprises almost 85,000 square miles – is a formidable task for Bishop Oscar A. Solis, whose job it is to preach the Word of God, and govern and sanctify the community. To do this he is frequently on the road, visiting parishes and missions to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation or for other events.
Now, Bishop Solis is taking a 21st-century approach to evangelization in the diocese. Each month, he will offer a two-minute “Chapel Chat” video to inform, form and transform local Catholics.
These videos are “a means to connect Bishop Solis to the faithful of Utah,” said Karin A. Hurley, director of the diocesan Office of Stewardship & Development, which is producing the videos. “Video is one medium through which we facilitate mutual connection.”
The videos were inspired by a series produced by the Diocese of Houma Thibodaux, La., in support of their diocesan pastoral plan, Hurley said.
Bishop Solis served as a priest in the Diocese of Houma Thibodaux from 1988 until his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles in 2003.
Hurley’s office plans to produce one brief video each month with Bishop Solis, based on a topic aligned with either the liturgical calendar (Lent, Easter, Pentecost) or a theological and/or spiritual principle, she said.
“We will move throughout the diocese, filming at a variety of churches and missions – essentially bringing the faithful together and ‘breaking down the walls of parishes,’ as Bishop Solis has said, and building the one, unified Church in Utah,” Hurley said.
The “Chapel Chats” are offered in English and Spanish on the diocesan YouTube channel. They also are shared in 15-second segments through the diocesan social media platforms as Facebook and Instagram stories. In addition, the videos will be available on the home page of the diocesan website (dioslc.org), and under the media tab on the Stewardship & Development site (catholicsaltlakecity.com).
“We are asking pastors to create links to the monthly videos from the home pages of their parish websites and share them to their social media accounts – Facebook and Instagram. We encourage the faithful to follow us on social media @catholicsaltlakecity,” Hurley said. “We may be a people of God divided by geographic territory, but we are united in Christ.”
The first Chapel Chat, on the topic of Lent, already is available on the diocesan sites. It was filmed at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Salt Lake City.
“Lent is a holy and beautiful season of love, forgiveness and reconciliation,” Bishop Solis says in the video. “We embark on 40 days of a spiritual journey to prepare ourselves for the celebration of Easter, commemorating the Pascal mystery of Christ’s Passion, death and Resurrection, which is the foundation of our Christian life.”
During the Mass on Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the Lenten season, Catholics are reminded of essential truths, such as the fragility of life, of God’s infinite mercy and his gift of salvation in Christ, the bishop says in the video, adding that the Mass also calls for people to repent and believe in the Gospel “by turning away from sin and turning our lives to God through the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.”
The diocesan Lenten theme this year is “To Be Reconciled to Christ,” the bishop says. “Reconciliation is an essential element of our faith and relationship with God that begins with repentance of our sins, conversion of our hearts and transformation of our lives. It opens our hearts to God’s infinite mercy, forgiveness and salvation, made possible through Christ’s death and Resurrection. Reconciliation sets the foundation towards our faith renewal and is essential for us to become true believers and missionary disciples of Christ.
“Let us journey together as one faith community this Lenten season, and let us seek reconciliation with Christ. Repent and believe in the Gospel, that we may celebrate God’s gift of life that Easter brings,” the bishop concludes in the video.
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