Community cheers Bishop Soto

Andrew Glazer

COSTA MESA -- The city’s Latino leaders said they knew Msgr. Jaime Soto

would eventually be ordained bishop of the Orange County diocese. They

just hoped he’d stay here once it happened.

“A lot of people get up to a level this high in the church and they move

somewhere else, like to Ohio,” said neighborhood activist Paty Madueno, a

member of St. Joachim Church in Costa Mesa.

On Wednesday, Soto, 44, was ordained during a special Mass at St.

Columban Church in Garden Grove. Soto, who has advocated for immigrants’

rights, affordable housing and expanding access to health care for

residents in Costa Mesa and throughout the county, is Orange County’s

first Latino bishop.

And it looks like he’s here to stay.

“We’re really glad he’s sticking around,” said Corey Timpson, president

of the Orange County Congregation Community Organization, which supports

social programs for the poor. “He’s always out there talking to the

people. And he’s willing to support them with time and energy, not just

in name. You don’t see too many people out there doing that.”

Madueno recalled one instance when Soto spoke out for a group of Costa

Mesa drywall workers who were protesting for better wages.

“I don’t know any other priest that would jeopardize his position like

that,” she said. “He believes in justice and if something is unjustly

done, he goes there and finds out.”

Alma Vergara, a Costa Mesa resident and member of the organization, said

Soto is a natural leader.

“If he wasn’t a priest, he’d be an organizer,” Vergara said. “He’s not

afraid to let people know how he stands on political issues. And he’s

very political.”

Costa Mesa’s Latino leaders said they are thrilled to have a strong voice

in the county’s Roman Catholic Church, which has roughly 615,000 members

-- approximately two-thirds of whom are Latino.

“It’s great to have a representative in the hierarchy,” said Laura

Avella, a Costa Mesa community activist, in her native Spanish. “It’s a

symbol that Latinos are progressing a great deal.”