Bishop gives thanks to Leadership Society

Intermountain Catholic

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The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, receives the Bishop's Leadership Society Book of Gratitude, the record of people in the diocese who have contributed more than $1,000 each year for five years to the Diocesan Development Drive. The book contains 218 names; 20 of those were added this year. IC photos/Marie Mischel

SALT LAKE CITY —The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, took advantage of the opportunity presented at the Sept. 7 Bishop’s Leadership Society dinner at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish to thank those who contributed at least $1,000 to this year’s Diocesan Development Drive.

The DDD supports the diocese’s myriad ministries, programs and services. The 359 members of the Bishop’s Leadership Society comprise 5 percent of those who contribute to the DDD, but collectively their donations amount to 30 percent of the total given to the drive. The number of people in the society grew by 63 members this year compared to last year.

"It’s a beautiful and wonderful thing that you do," said Kathleen Leonard, who with her husband, Frank, hosted the event.

Kathleen Leonard, who also served as the master of ceremonies, recalled the time when, as children, she and her siblings were waiting at the dinner table for her mother to return from working the first DDD drive in 1966. When her mother finally arrived, she said she couldn’t come earlier because people were standing in line to donate.

"They wanted Bishop [Joseph Lennox] Federal to have money for more priests, more churches, more land to build up the Body of Christ in our little diocese," Leonard said. ""Now you’re giving to the bishop so that he can build up the Body of Christ in Utah."

Although much has changed in the past 45 years, the need for priests and seminarians in the Diocese of Salt Lake City remains; the DDD continues to support the seminarian program, among other diocesan ministries.

Currently, the diocese has eight seminarians studying philosophy at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon, English at the University of Utah and theology the Pontifical North American College in Rome, Italy.

Christopher Gray, one of the two Diocese of Salt Lake City seminarians in Rome, spoke at the dinner. "This is tremendous opportunity for me at this time to thank you for all of your incredibly generous work, without which I would not be able to have the kind of education that I am receiving at this time," said Gray, a graduate of the Madeleine Choir School and Judge Memorial Catholic High School.

Discerning his call to the priesthood took some time, but a turning point was in December 2006, when he worked with the people who were affected by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Cache Valley. In addition to the trauma of families separated by immigration issues, there were the spiritual costs of the events, Gray said. "It touched me in very, very simple way…. At that moment I knew it was absolutely the right thing to do, that I had to engage at the moment."

The diocese is blessed to have the seminarians who are studying to become priests, Bishop Wester said, adding that he is profoundly grateful for the Leadership Society members who have made the local Catholic Church a priority.

"Each gift is important," Bishop Wester said. "Every act of generosity goes a long, long way in God’s grace. What you do as part of the Diocesan Development Drive is built upon, with God’s loving providence, in all kinds of ways. All of the different offices that we have are influenced and made possible by your generosity. We could not do it without you."