Salt Lake Deanery honors women religious

Intermountain Catholic

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Bernice Mooney, author and former archivist, gives the history of the early Utah territory and the major impact women religious had on beginning of the Catholic Church in Utah. IC photo by Christine Young

SALT LAKE CITY — The Salt Lake Deanery held their annual Spring luncheon on Laetare Sunday, March 22, and honored the women religious. Laetare Sunday is the fourth, or middle Sunday of Lent.

The Lenten lunch of soup and bread was hosted by the women’s council at St. Ambrose Parish. Amy Kennedy, Salt Lake Deanery president welcomed women from the various parishes in the Salt Lake Deanery, and San Francisco Province Director Mary Adams from St. Rose of Lima Parish, Cheryl Johnson, Diocesan Council of Catholic Women (DCCW) president from Blessed Sacrament Parish, and Msgr. Rudolph Daz, Salt Lake Deanery spiritual moderator.

Guest speaker were Bernice Mooney, former archivist for the Diocese of Salt Lake City, and author of "Salt of the Earth." She co-authored the third edition of "Salt of the Earth" with Vicar General Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald. Holy Cross Sister Patricia Riley was also a guest speaker. She is vicar for women religious and director of deacon candidates for the Diocese of Salt Lake City.

"There are 45 sisters in our diocese today," said Mooney. "Seven of the orders to which some of these sisters belong are the original orders that helped to shape the Catholic Church of Utah. The early sisters of these orders first entered Utah in 1875. They brought stability and hope in the face of overwhelming challenge. They supported the early priests, and with them, created the enduring spirit of Catholicism in Utah."

Mooney said in 1871, Archbishop Joseph Alemany of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, under whose jurisdiction Utah Territory had been placed, constructed a small church named the Church of St. Mary Magdalene located at 200 East and 100 South in Salt Lake City.

In 1873, Archbishop Alemany sent Father Lawrence Scanlan to pastor the Utah Territory of 155,000 square miles in Utah, plus seven counties in eastern Nevada. Fr. Scanlan had only been a priest for five years, but dedicated the next 40 years of his life to building up the Catholic Church in Utah. Fr. Scanlan was named bishop of Salt Lake City in 1891. He died May 10, 1915.

On June 6, 1875, the first two Holy Cross sisters arrived in the Utah Territory, and others soon followed. In 1875, Fr. Scanlan began to travel the territory, along with the sisters to the isolated areas of Ogden, Silver Reef, Park City, and Eureka, where at each new parish, they opened schools and convents. They opened a hospital in Silver Reef.

Fr. Scanlan wrote Archbishop Alemany in 1881 telling him, "There are 40 sisters, and they keep coming. They have done so much to reduce prejudice, and to set a tone and prominence for our cause. That would have taken years of hard work for us priests."

Mooney said the sisters established the St. Mary Academy in 1875, and began teaching there. They established Holy Cross Hospital in 1881, reared children in Kearns-Saint Ann Orphanage from 1891-1953, and assumed administration of the school in the former Judge Mercy Home and Hospital in 1926.

The Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul were invited by Bishop Joseph S. Glass (1915-1926), to come to Utah from Los Angeles. In 1926, they administered Notre Dame School in Price until 1998, due to changing demographics. The Daughters of Charity taught at J. E. Cosgriff Memorial School in Salt Lake City, and St. Olaf School in Bountiful. Today there are three Daughters of Charity at St. Olaf Parish.

Five more orders of religious came to Utah at the request of Bishop Duane G. Hunt (1937-1960). In 1939, Our Lady of Victory Missionary Sisters arrived from Indiana, and for 60 years taught catechism, visited homes, and worked in ethnic ministry from Brigham City to St. George. Today, one sister manages a retreat house in Orangeville, Utah.

In 1944, the Sisters of St. Benedict arrived from St. Joseph, Minn., to administer the new St. Benedict Hospital in Ogden. Today eight Benedictine sisters form an independent priory. Three of the sisters work at Ogden Regional Medical Center, former St. Benedict Hospital, and another in parish ministry.

In 1946, the Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement from Graymoor, N.Y., served at St. Helen Parish in Roosevelt for 40 years. Today one remains at St. Joseph the Worker Parish in West Jordan.

In 1947, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word came from Houston, Texas, to open (CHRISTUS) Saint Joseph Villa. Today three sisters represent the nearly 200 sisters who have served in the Villa.

The contemplative Order of Discalced Carmelite Sisters of Alhambra, Calif., established the Carmel of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monastery in Holladay in September 1952. Today there are seven sisters.

Mooney said we also honor one Christian Community sister affiliated since 1992, with the Holy Spirit House of Prayer; and sister of the Franciscan Missionaries of Jesus Crucified from Albany, N.Y., active at St. Vincent de Paul Parish in Salt Lake City.

"We cherish our sisters and thank them for all they have given of themselves over the years," said Mooney. "We pledge them our support and our prayers."

"Women religious in Utah have a long history with much variety in their ministries," said Sr. Patricia. "So who are we today in the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 2009? Presently there are nine religious communities represented.

"What are the works in which these 45 sisters are involved?" asked Sr. Patricia. "The contemplative nuns, the Carmelites’ ministry is to pray for the diocese, the needs of the world, and the Church. Other communities in the diocese are involved in health care and hospice, education, parish ministry, spirituality, immigration work, hospital ministry, and diocesan level work."

Sr. Patricia said very good work is being done in our diocese by religious sisters, but the number of sisters doing ministry is not what it was. But something wonderful has happened. The lay members of the Church are more involved in ministry, which is what was asked of them from the Second Vatican Council. During the 1960s, religious sisters were asked to train the laity. When they left a mission, they were to prepare the laity so they could continue.

"Truly that has happened in our diocese today," said Sr. Patricia. "The laity are involved in ministry. There are 73 directors of religious education, 955 religious education teachers, 48 Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) directors in parishes, 16 Catholic school administrators, and 466 Catholic school teachers. There are a few religious doing these works as well, but the laity is doing wonderful work in our diocese and throughout the country.

"We all know that God has a plan, and God’s work will be done, and will continue to be done," said Sr. Patricia. "There are fewer religious vocations in this country, but international communities are continuing to get vocations. Many of our communities are international, so we are getting vocations in Africa, Asia, and South America. These are wonderful, spirit-filled religious, who are entering our communities. We are blessed.

"So what is God saying in all of this to us?" asked Sr. Patricia. "Live the Gospel, teach the ignorant, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and visit the sick. God is also saying, ‘Reach out to my people,’ and that will always be our call to both the religious and the laity.

"I say thank you so much for your ministry in the church," said Sr. Patricia. "Truly there are many more people involved in the church than there were in 1965. You are truly called by God. Many of you are working in the church side-by-side with religious sisters in our diocese. We have, and are continuing to be a grace for one another. The future is truly in God’s hands."