Pastor Assignments Take Effect July 28: Fr. Kenneth Vialpando

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Fr. Kenneth Vialpando

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. Following are brief profiles of five of these priests; profiles of the other five will be published in the July 23 Intermountain Catholic.

Fr. Kenneth Vialpando

Fr. Kenneth Vialpando, a native of Utah, was born and raised in Tooele, where he was baptized and attended high school. After a tour in the U.S. Marine Corps, he entered Mt. Angel Seminary and received a Bachelor of Science degree. He also attended St. Thomas Seminary in Denver and the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, from which he received a Master of Divinity.

He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Salt Lake City on Aug. 24, 1991 by the Most Rev. William K. Weigand, seventh Bishop of Salt Lake City. He has served numerous assignment in the diocese, including as a teacher and chaplain at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and assistant scout chaplain, and a member of the Spirituality Advisory Board. Other special assignments include a member of the Priests’ Personnel Board, Dean of the Northern Deanery and a Diocesan Consultor. He has served at the parish of St. Therese of the Child Jesus, St. Ambrose, St. Pius X, St. Joseph (Monticello), Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Joseph (Ogden), and St. Marguerite. In 2019 he was appointed the diocese’s Vicar for Clergy, a position he will continue to hold as he begins as pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish (Salt Lake City) on July 28.

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

The first thing that I would like the parishioners to know about me is that I am very honored to be the 16th pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, which dates all the way back to 1913 and which has “safeguarded the rich deposit of faith” during these last 108 years through the priests, religious sisters and lay people who have served as “living stones” of this historic church through their time, talent, treasures, blood, sweat and tears. The second thing that I would like the parishioners to know about me is that I am thrilled and excited to be a part of both the parish and the school. When Bishop Oscar asked me if I would be willing to be the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes, I didn’t give it a second thought. I immediately responded to him by saying, “Yes, please send me!” 

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

The thing that I am looking forward to the most about Our Lady of Lourdes is working with the families in this size of a parish. There is a lot to be said about working in a parish that has thousands of families, but when a pastor gets to work in a parish the size of Our Lady of Lourdes, he gets to spend quality time with a good portion of the families who have mastered the art of worshipping, working and playing well together, mainly because they can’t “pass the buck” to hundreds of other people; they have to depend on each other; rely on each other; trust  each other and respect each other as one family, one body in Christ. I look forward to meeting these families and hearing their stories about how their great-grandparents, grandparents, and parents built this church and kept it alive through their family connections and close-knit ties. I look forward to joining the family of Our Lady of Lourdes if they are willing to adopt me as one of their own.  

As a priest, what has been one of your greatest challenges?

One of my biggest challenges as a priest has been moving from parish to parish or from ministry to ministry. The normal term for a priest in one parish is normally six years, if not 12. This one term or two terms can seem like a good amount of time to minister to the people, but in reality the time as a pastor goes by very quickly, and then he has to pick up and move on to another parish or assignment, causing him to leave the family he felt comfortable with or the friends he made over the years. The relationship between a pastor and the parishioners can be like a marriage, which is why it is not always easy to pack  up and move on to another parish. Leaving a parish is not a “divorce,” but at times it can definitely feel like it. 

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

One of my most satisfying experiences as a priest has been recognizing the fact that if  it wasn’t for the grace of God, I would never have been able to stand up in front of a crowd, celebrate the Masses, administer the sacraments, preach or teach. As a priest, I see myself as the boy in the gospel who only had five small barley loaves and two small fish. With that small portion, the little lad didn’t have enough to feed the whole crowd until he allowed the Lord to take his gifts and to multiply them. During the 30 years that I have been ordained, it has been very satisfying for me to know that even though I only possess a few gifts and talents, the Lord has been able to multiply my gifts by combining them with the gifts of all those around me, making it possible for all of us in the parish to experience the Bread of Everlasting Life and to build up the Kingdom of God together.