Msgr. Fitzgerald honored with inaugural Yves Congar award

Intermountain Catholic

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Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald (right) receives the inaugural Yves Congar award from Dominican Father Wayne Cavalier, director of the Congar Institute. IC photo/Marie Mischel

SALT LAKE CITY — The Most Rev. J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, was presented with the first Yves Congar award for the promotion of laity in the mission of the Catholic Church.

Yves Congar (1904-1995) was a Dominican friar "who spent his life proving the conviction that every baptized member of the Body of Christ is equal in dignity," said Dominican Father Wayne Cavalier, director of the Texas-based Congar Institute, which is a ministry of the Southern Dominican Province with the mission to support and develop lay ecclesial ministry.

Although Fr. Congar’s teachings at first were seen as suspect, later he was called by Pope John XXIII to help construct the reforms of the Second Vatican Council. He was named a cardinal in 1994.

Msgr. Fitzgerald, who served as Catholic school principal and superintendent, pastor, church historian, seminary director and two-time diocesan administrator, among other positions during his 49 years as an ordained priest with the Salt Lake diocese, is an ideal person to receive the Yves Congar award, Fr. Cavalier said.

Msgr. Fitzgerald looked at Utah’s rural, isolated Catholic diocese "and saw that there were not enough ordained ministers and so began programs for deacon formation and lay ecclesial ministry formation, first in English and then in Spanish," Fr. Cavalier said.

Lay ecclesial ministers (LEM) are lay people who receive training to serve their parishes and the diocese in leadership roles such as directors of religious education and spiritual directors.

Because of Msgr. Fitzgerald’s vision, the Congar Institute was invited to offer assistance to the Diocese of Salt Lake City to prepare lay ministers in both the English and Spanish language communities, Fr. Cavalier said.

The Congar Institute helped design the lay ecclesial ministry program that began in the diocese five years ago, said Susan Northway, director of religious education. "They have also provided resources for many areas of study that we don’t have locally," such as guest speakers and retreat leaders, she said.

The first class of English-speaking lay ecclesial ministers was certified last year; a second group began the four-year program this year. A Spanish-speaking group also began a program this year.

The Dominican priests, particularly Father Luis Roberto Aguilar, have been very helpful in creating the local Spanish LEM program, said Maria-Cruz Gray, director of Hispanic Ministry for the diocese. "Thanks to them we can have presentations from all over the world," she said, adding that when those now in the program have completed the training "they will be prepared to go all over Utah. They are going to be very important … to developing the Spanish ministry because Hispanics have a lot to give."

Fr. Aguilar regularly comes to Utah to oversee the Spanish-language LEM program.

In accepting the award, Msgr. Fitzgerald said the Congar Institute provided theological resources that weren’t available in the diocese. He recalled that, as a seminarian, "reading Fr. Congar was a little suspect" because his views at the time were considered radical, "but we were very much influenced by his wonderful teachings."

He also recalled traveling throughout Utah, where in rural missions a priest might visit only once a month, so the parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles taught the children. "They were the mentors of faith … keeping the faith in areas where the faith could easily have died out. They had hearts of lay ministers," Msgr. Fitzgerald said, adding that the religious women of various orders who served in Utah also were committed to developing lay people to continue their ministry.

After the awards presentation, which was Aug. 27 at Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Salt Lake City, the Friends of the Congar Institute held a fundraiser to benefit the six-year-old organization.

About 10 religious communities have been providing funding for the Congar Institute in its formative years, but additional funding is needed to continue the work in Salt Lake City and to reach more dioceses, Fr. Cavalier said.