Pastor Assignments Take Effect July 28: Fr. Jorge Roldan-Sanchez

Diocese of Salt Lake City

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Fr. Jorge Roldan-Sanchez

On July 28, 10 priests in the Diocese of Salt Lake City will assume their duties as either pastor or administrator of a parish, or as chaplain, to which they have been newly assigned. In this edition we have brief profiles of five of these priests; profiles of the other five were published in the July 9 Intermountain Catholic. 

Fr. Jorge Roldan-Sanchez

Fr. Jorge Roldan-Sanchez, a native of Cuautitlán, Mexico, attended the Universidad Pontificia de Mexico before entering Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Salt Lake City on June 28, 2014 by the Most Rev. John C. Wester, then the ninth Bishop of Salt Lake City and now Archbishop of Santa Fe.

His first assignment as a priest was as parochial vicar of St. Mary of the Assumption Parish. He also served at the Cathedral of the Madeleine and Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, before becoming pastor of St. Bridget Parish and its associated missions — St. John Bosco, Holy Family and Our Lady of the Light.

On July 28 he will begin serving as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish.

What would you like your new parishioners to know about you?

Well, I’m Father Jorge Roldan; I was born in the State of Mexico. I started my priestly formation in México, in the Diocese of Cuautitlán. Once Bishop John C. Wester went to Mexico City with a pilgrimage from Salt Lake City to Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine and I met him; he invited us (five more people and myself) to become seminarians for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. The late Deacon Ricardo Arias worked on the paperwork and I was sent to Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, Texas. After a while I was ordained a deacon on Oct. 13, 2013. After eight months I was ordained a priest on June 28, 2014. Since then I’ve being working in the diocese in Salt Lake City in some parishes as a parochial vicar. And now Bishop Solis has named me pastor of this church, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

What are you looking forward to most about your new assignment?

I want to serve and work in this beautiful parish under the patroness of Our Lady of Guadalupe, for all the community, Anglo and Hispanic and the other cultures – all of us are God’s people.

As a priest, what has been your greatest challenge?

The greatest challenge in my priestly life has been the language, but I am still working on it.

As a priest, what has been your most satisfying experience?

To celebrate the sacraments: when I baptize the children, when God forgives the sins of people through me, when I celebrate the Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.