The Bishops of Salt Lake City: The Rescuers – Bishops Mitty and Kearney

Intermountain Catholic

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Archbishop John J. Mitty (L) and Bishop James E. Kearney flank the Apostolic Delegate at the 1936 re-consecration of the Cathedral of the Madeleine. Courtesy photo/Diocese of Salt Lake City archives

(Editor’s note: In honor of the 10th anniversary of the Bishop’s Dinner, the Intermountain Catholic is publishing a series of articles featuring the men who have served as Bishop of Salt Lake City.)

By Gary Topping

Archivist, Diocese of Salt Lake City

Although Bishop Joseph S. Glass, at the time of his death in 1926, had left the diocese better off in expanded ministries, new parishes and a brilliantly redecorated Cathedral of the Madeleine, those improvements had come at a steep price, an indebtedness close to $300,000. The Cathedral accounted for much of that debt, but the red ink had spread from there into virtually every corner of the diocese. There was a contagion of demoralization, as Utah Catholics developed the (not altogether inaccurate) perception that their bishop was squandering their money. Consequently, they began passing up the collection basket and even stopped participating in church programs. Before long, parishes were taking out loans to pay the interest on previous ones, and legal actions were pending against the diocese itself. Clearly the diocese was in a state of crisis and needed to be rescued.

That rescue came in the form of two remarkable – but very different – bishops, the Right Rev. John J. Mitty (1926-32) and the Most Rev. James E. Kearney (1932-37). Both were New Yorkers, but the resemblance ends there, for Bishop Mitty was a military man with an iron-fisted administrative style who cared not a bit for popularity, and Bishop Kearney was a jovial man of the people who loved to sing Irish songs and give illustrated slide lectures on religious and historical topics. Together, by implementing rigorous accounting procedures and exploiting connections among wealthy Catholics in the East, they accomplished the remarkable feat of raising the diocese from insolvency to prosperity during the very depths of the Great Depression.

Orphaned at 14, Bishop Mitty built a discipline and resolve that prompted his nickname, "Iron John." After an Army chaplaincy in Europe during World War I, he took over a parish in New York that included the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he became acquainted with General Douglas MacArthur.

He had need of every bit of that discipline when he arrived in the troubled Diocese of Salt Lake.

He first addressed the legal cases against the diocese, which he was able to settle out of court, then he poured the money he had received as ordination gifts across the river of red ink and appealed to Eastern friends for special collections and donations. Realizing, though, that charity begins at home and that Utah Catholics were going to have to pick up their end of the financial stick, he called a meeting of heads of households at the Cathedral on May 14, 1928 at which he summoned them to do just that. His notes for that meeting are a masterpiece of invective still capable of setting one’s teeth on edge. After detailing the debts and the shameful donations of mere pennies per person, the scandalous living conditions of priests, and lack of support for parishes, the orphanage, the cemetery, and the radio ministry, he thundered, "We have come to the crossing of the roads. Things cannot go on in this way."

They did not. Evidently trusting once again that their contributions would not be misused, Utah Catholics reopened their pocketbooks and revenues began to increase dramatically. By the time Bishop Kearney took over in 1932, the debt had been reduced to a more manageable figure of $50,000.

Unfortunately, though, in the meantime the prosperity of the 1920s had given way to the poverty of the Great Depression, and closing that last gap proved no easy matter.

Like Bishop Mitty, Bishop Kearney had access to financial resources among Eastern friends who proved to be generous in helping to rescue a missionary diocese in trouble. Bishop Kearney’s easygoing demeanor, too, charmed his people. Where Bishop Mitty had wielded lightning bolts, Bishop Kearney employed an Irish wink and a smile.

To the immense credit of both bishops, they refused to ask their people to shoulder a burden that they themselves would not share, and both gave generously of their own funds. As the debt decreased, Bishop Kearney promised that if it reached $5,000 he would find a way to raise that on his own, and in fact he did. On Nov. 28, 1936, in a joyous celebration in which the Cathedral was re-consecrated debt-free, Bishop Mitty, by then Archbishop of San Francisco, joined Bishop Kearney and Apostolic Delegate Amleto Giovanni Cicognani in celebrating a triumphant Mass.

The road to Easter, for Catholic Christians, always means passing in some sense through Lent. As we Utah Catholics passed through our Lent in the 1920s and 1930s, we were fortunate to have such dedicated and effective bishops at our head.

(The annual Bishop’s Dinner, which supports the Cathedral of the Madeleine, this year is scheduled for Sept. 26 at The Grand America Hotel, 500 S. Main St., SLC. The guest speaker will be the Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, Archbishop emeritus of San Francisco and the eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City. For information, contact Laurel Dokos-Griffith, 801-328-8941 ext. 108.)