St. Vincent parents help create a passion for art

Friday, Sep. 13, 2024

SALT LAKE CITY — More than 500 people gathered at the Grand America in Salt Lake City on Sept. 4 for the Bishop’s Dinner, a benefit for the Cathedral of the Madeleine. It was a record attendance for the event, which was celebrating its 20th anniversary.

In his opening prayer, the Very Rev. Martin Diaz, rector of the cathedral, acknowledged that those gathered were from many walks of life and several faith traditions. “In a world that is divided, we celebrate our differences,” he said. “We understand our diversity. We live in peace with one another, for we are compassionate and forgiving.”

He then asked God’s blessing on “the food and friendship we share tonight,” and also on “those who labored and are laboring for what we enjoy.”

As the evening’s program began, a short video celebrating the dinner’s 20-year anniversary was played; it contained some archival footage of the first event as well as comments from several people from today who appreciate the cathedral. 

“The bishop’s church must continue to be a haven of hospitality where all God’s people have a place at the table,” said the Very Rev. Arthur Holquin in his address at that first dinner, several clips of which were shown in the video. 

The Oct. 1, 2004 Intermountain Catholic printed the entire text of Msgr. Holquin’s presentation, which was titled “The Cathedral as Sacrament.” In it, he noted that “a cathedral church can be a powerful presence of the holy, revealing or disclosing the God of mercy, the God of justice, the Lord of beauty and the God of hospitality in the midst of the secular city.”

The video showed Msgr. Holquin saying, “My friends, what you have, it is a treasure. Guard it. Nourish it. Support it.”

The theme of gratitude was picked up by Msgr. Joseph M. Mayo, a retired priest of the diocese who began the dinner when he was the cathedral rector. The Bishop’s Dinner was “a beautiful platform for Bishop Niederauer, Bishop Wester, Bishop Solis to express gratitude for all the selfless giving of people who contributed to the presence of the cathedral,” he said in the video.

The Most Rev. George H. Niederauer [d. 2017], was Bishop of Salt Lake City when the annual dinner was begun; his successor was the Most Rev. John C. Wester, now Archbishop of Santa Fe. The Most Rev. Oscar A. Solis is the 10th Bishop of Salt Lake City. 

One humorous moment during the dinner came when the video showed Bishop Niederauer thanking those at the inaugural event “for your generosity. If you were not generous, Father Mayo has spoken to me to remind you that our cathedral gargoyles are highly trained and know where you live.”

The keynote speaker for this year’s dinner was Cardinal Robert W. McElroy of San Diego, who also is a member of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life. He holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a master’s degree and a doctorate from Stanford as well as a doctorate in moral theology from the Gregorian University in Rome. He was ordained a priest in 1980; in 2010 Pope Benedict appointed him auxiliary bishop of San Francisco. Five years later, Pope Francis appointed him bishop of San Diego; he was elevated to cardinal in 2022.

The artwork in the Cathedral of the Madeleine testifies to the centrality of the events of the Passion, death and Resurrection to the faith of believers, Cardinal McElroy said. “They convey to us the enormity of the sacrifice which Jesus Christ made for us, and the understanding that in these saving events we are redeemed once and for all by the God who has loved us from the first moment in our mother’s womb and will love us until the end of time.”

Set amid the building’s artistic majesty, “the liturgy [in] the Madeleine takes on an angelic grace because of the presence of the cathedral school choir,” he added. “We believe that when we celebrate the Eucharist we participate in the life of heaven in a unique way, not only because the Lord is physically present with us but also because we are united with all those in heaven who worship God with us. The artistic beauty and music of the Madeleine bring us to a taste of that reality.”

The cardinal asked those present to imagine the challenges faced by the 3,000 Catholics in Utah at the turn of the last century as they sought to build the Cathedral of the Madeleine. “In the midst of the hardships and struggles they faced in this new land, what courage and faith was required to envision, let alone build, such a sublime cathedral that would provide a spiritual home for every successive generation to encounter the presence of God,” he said.

Emphasizing that the cathedral is a gathering place for all, he said that “in our shared religious faith we embody the grace of God that ties us together as common witnesses to the religious impulse that lies within the human heart and soul. It is this shared bond of religious and spiritual humanity that provides the most fertile ground for forging a new Eden in this world” and that “we are all equally children of the one God who has created for us every blessing that we know in this world.”  

Noting that everyone is on a journey of faith, he said in conclusion, “May God guide us all on this wonderful, exhilarating journey of building up God’s grace in our lives.”

Bishop Solis gave the closing remarks at the dinner, acknowledging those present, who “came here as brothers and sisters, recognizing that when we are all together as one global family, people united in a social friendship that transcends those boundaries of polarization and division, the world becomes a better place; and we become the mirror and the testimony that God exists in the world – the one who created the wonders of creation, the dignity of human life and the beauty of social friendship.”  

The bishop thanked “all those benefactors and donors who for 20 years have contributed not only in helping the Cathedral of the Madeleine to be the shining light and a beacon of hope to the community in Salt Lake City and the entire state of Utah. … The doors of the cathedral remain open because of what you have done not only for the past 20 years but for all the years of its existence. It remains a beacon of light and hope and its light continues to shine because of you.”