In the 25 years he has served as a priest and auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Orange, Bishop Jaime Soto has become known as a man of prayer, a priest with passion for his faith, and a bishop with the eloquence and courage to speak out for the dignity of the human person.

The eldest of seven children, Bishop Soto was born on Dec. 31, 1955 in Inglewood, Calif., to Gloria and Oscar Soto. Shortly after he was born, the family moved to another house located on a large cul-de-sac lot in Stanton.

It was a traditional Mexican-American home filled with love, frequent and large family gatherings, music and faith.

“It was a Catholic home,” said Gloria Soto, who fondly recalls her family gathering together every night for prayer in front of a large picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus hung in the entryway of their home.

Typically more than 30 extended family members convened at the Sotos’ for Christmas Eve dinner before attending midnight Mass.

The lively household was headquarters for family celebrations following weddings, baptisms and confirmations.

It was also filled with the sound of music played by Gloria or her son Ricardo Soto on the family’s baby grand piano, as well as guitar renditions of a variety of Mexican ballads played by various family members.

Gloria Soto said that her young son Jaime “was a very good student with a lot of enthusiasm,” a creative child who organized pick-up baseball games and neighborhood carnivals involving all his siblings.

“Jaime took a leadership role and was pretty good at it,” said Bishop Soto’s younger brother Oscar. “When he had an idea, we pretty much listened.”

He recalled that the Soto home was on a block filled with large families, many of whom were members of St. Polycarp Parish, where the Sotos attended 10:30 a.m. Sunday Mass.

“For us parish life was what family life was about,” Oscar Soto said.

Path toward priesthood

Oscar Soto said that there was “always talk around the house about the priesthood” and early evidence that his brother Jaime might well choose the priesthood as a vocation.

“We would practice altar boy serving at home and Jaime would always play the role of the priest,” he said.

Bishop Soto confirmed in an interview that as a young boy, while he briefly considered a career as an engineer, lawyer or politician, he realized “what really would make me happy was being a priest.”

“It was difficult for me to separate what I wanted to do in life from the liturgical part of being a priest, living in a very saturated environment in which everything was related to family or faith,” he said.

Palmira Tafani, Bishop Soto’s second grade teacher at St. Polycarp School in Stanton, said the “very quiet, very intelligent, very obedient” eight-year-old boy she taught clearly knew the path he wanted to follow.

“When I asked him what he wanted to be (when he grew up), he said a priest,” she said. “I was not surprised at all when he was ordained a priest and later a bishop.”

It was as a freshman at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana that Bishop Soto was assigned to read the Second Vatican Council’s “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” which proved to be a providential educational experience.

“The document was pivotal in my understanding of what the social mission of the church was,” Bishop Soto said. “I thought, ‘The priesthood. This is what I want to do.’”

Years in the seminary

Following graduation from Mater Dei High School in 1974, Bishop Soto enrolled at St. John’s Seminary College in Camarillo.

One of his classmates at St. John’s Seminary was Father Jerome Karcher, current pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Huntington Beach.

Describing his fellow seminarian as “bright, well-read and accessible,” Father Karcher said Bishop Soto claimed to be somewhat of an introvert, but never hesitated to become involved in the activities of seminary life.

“As a seminarian he was always concerned with those on the margins of society,” said Father Karcher, founder of Mercy House shelters for the homeless in Southern California.

During his years in the seminary Bishop Soto was also exploring what would become a life-long interest in the arts and a love for jazz, frequently tuning in a local jazz radio station.

“His own bohemian self-perception allows him to be even more sensitive, to understand art can be found everywhere and … discover God in every aspect of life,” Father Karcher said.

That his fellow seminarian would go on to become the Diocese of Orange’s first Hispanic bishop and the youngest U.S. bishop when he was appointed at age 44 in 2000 seems to Father Karcher a most logical sequence of events.

“Bishop Soto is man of prayer firmly rooted in the church and in a certain sense not afraid to understand the fullness of Catholic faith in moral and social teaching,” he said. “Maybe he is in the heart of the church as a man of prayer, a man of action, with a love of God and of others.”

Ordination to priesthood

On June 12, 1982, Bishop Soto was ordained to the priesthood in the Cathedral of the Holy Family in Orange.

Oscar Soto said his brother’s ordination was definitely “a very big deal” for the Sotos, with more than 100 extended family members present for the occasion.

Following the Mass there was a massive celebration at the Soto home, similar in size and excitement to his sister Maria Elena’s wedding reception.

Gloria Soto said her son’s choice for his episcopal motto, the opening words of the Second Vatican Council’s “Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World,” “Gozo y Esperanza” (Joy and Hope) was a natural selection.

“Jaime has worked with so many people, helping immigrants and others go where they want to go,” she said.

It was a family day, a day when Gloria Soto fully realized how very lucky she was.

“It hit me,” she recalled. “He’s not mine anymore. I had given him to God.”

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