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November
6, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 19Oakland,
CA
New administrator named for Oakley parish
By Carrie
McClish
Staff writer
Within days
of arriving at St. Anthony Parish in Oakley as its new parochial administrator
last month, Father Olman Solis quickly found himself on the receiving
end of the community’s hospitality.
Parishioners who attend the Wednesday morning liturgy have been bringing
food to church so they can have breakfast with the priest. He was pleasantly
surprised by the gesture. “I feel very welcomed by them,”
he said.
This is a far cry from Father Solis’ first assignment as a priest
in a rural parish in his native Costa Rica. He had hardly arrived at the
parish in Cartago when the pastor announced that he was sick and promptly
left the newly ordained priest to take care of the parish community. “He
left me alone for nine months – that was difficult,” Father
Solis recalled. “I didn’t know anything about the parish.”
He was forced to learn quickly. The parish was big – comprising
an area of 30,000 residents, 90 percent of whom were Catholic. While other
priests were available to help with the Masses, Father Solis was left
to figure out the rest of parish life on his own. The assignment turned
into a “good experience,” he said. “I learned a lot.”
Father Olman Solis
Born
in San Jose, Costa Rica, Father Solis studied at the Conservatorio Castella,
a school with an emphasis on art because his parents wanted him to experience
art. He later went to Colegio Tecnico Vocacional de Heredia and graduated
as an accountant. Then he went to the University of Costa Rica and studied
statistics. Afterwards, he spent five years working in accounting at the
National Bank of Costa Rica.
At the age of 23, Father Solis decided to enter the seminary to discern
a calling to the priesthood that he first heard during his youth.
As a child he told his parents that he wanted to be a priest, but he didn’t
begin to think about it seriously until he joined a youth group in his
parish, he said. In that group he and other members talked about their
faith and about Jesus and those discussions took root. But he didn’t
realize how deep those roots would be.
When he entered Seminario Central de Costa Rica, he thought his stay would
be short so he asked for a one-year leave of absence from his job. He
soon discovered that God had “a different plan for me and I found
out that being a priest was my true vocation,” he said. After completing
his studies, he was ordained to the priesthood in December 1997.
It was during visits to a seminary classmate who had been ordained for
the Diocese of Monterey that Father Solis began to take an interest in
the Catholic Church in the U.S. He asked his bishop for permission to
come to the U.S. and after inquiring at various dioceses was invited to
serve in the Oakland Diocese. He became a parochial vicar for the diocese
in 2001 and officially joined the diocese last year.
His first assignment was at Casa Hispana in Concord, which provided pastoral
care for Spanish-speaking Catholics. After three months there, he was
transferred to St. Mary Parish in Walnut Creek, where he learned more
about American Catholics, improved his English skills, and gained a greater
understanding of U.S. culture.
In his new role as administrator of the multicultural Oakley parish that
includes members with Portuguese, Filipino, Hispanic backgrounds, Father
Solis is again in learning mode.
His main goal is getting to know his parishioners and walking in faith
with them. “I will support them and help them to grow spiritually
and as a community,” he said.
Father Solis replaces Father Bernardino Andrade, who retired as pastor
in July and has returned to his native to Portugal to serve as pastor
of a parish on Madeira Island.
