The following comes from a Jan. 24 item in the Sacramento Bee.
Bishop Jaime Soto got an assist from the Vatican on Friday when Pope Francis appointed Monsignor Myron Cotta of Fresno as second-in-command of the growing Sacramento Catholic Diocese.
Cotta, who grew up on a dairy farm in Merced County, will officially be ordained auxiliary bishop – or vicar general – on March 25, the festival of the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, Soto announced at a news conference held Friday at Sacred Heart Parish School in east Sacramento. Cotta, who speaks English, Spanish and Portuguese, will help Soto minister to more than 900,000 Catholics spread over 42,000 square miles in 20 counties to the Oregon border.
Cotta, 60, served as a priest in the Fresno Diocese for 26 years, the last 15 as vicar general. For some of that time, he led the more than 1 million Catholics in the diocese while Bishop John Steinbock fought a losing battle with lung cancer, dying in December 2010. Cotta replaces Monsignor James Murphy, who is retiring Jan. 31, as vicar general of the Sacramento Diocese. Murphy has spent 45 years at the diocese, the last five as vicar general.
To read the entire story, click here.
Bishop elect Myron Cotta…great choice!
A great priest who will be missed in Fresno! He frequently preaches at my parish St. Anthony of Padua. Always spot on orthodox, no fuzziness. In the last ten years I have heard 4 sermons that have referenced Purgatory and the necessity of praying for the “Church Suffering,” all sermons by Monsignor Cotta. Fresno’s loss is Sacramento’s gain.
June 30, 1993, memo by Orange Bishop Jaime Soto to Chancellor John Urell about a conversation Soto had with Bishop Emilio Berlie of the Diocese of Tijuana. “I told him that there have been new allegations regarding Fr. Al Ramos and that we have reason to believe that there is a substance of truth to what has been presented.” According to Soto, Berlie wanted to keep Ramos and told Soto the American Roman Catholic Church was “kneeling, bending under the attacks that have been leveled against us.” “I tried to explain to him that this matter was largely out of our control,” Soto writes. “We have already taken steps to respond but the media has exploited these cases for their own agenda.” Soto also writes he believed Ramos “continues to hold in his possession indecent photos of some of the young people he victimized.”
Welcome to Sacramento, Bishop Elect Myron Cotta. I think you will find your assignment both challenging and at the same time rewarding. It’s a great Diocese. I will pray for you.
Why aren’t Diocese split in half after they reach a population over 500,000 ?
We don’t need little kingdoms.
A Diocese Bishop (not their subordinates) are directly responsible for the Salvation of Souls within their own Diocese.
Only the Diocese Bishops can vote on many topics at the USCCB and State Bishops’ Conferences.
A half a million Souls is plenty to shepherd.