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Show UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Reverend Denis Kiely, Bishop Lawrence Scanlan’s right-hand man and the first Vicar General of DIOCESAN ARCHIVES the Diocese of Salt Lake City. reveal at least two things: first, the Catholic clergy, which consisted of two recently arrived Irish priests (Scanlan and Kiely) and a Spaniard (Alemany), possessed little understanding of Mormonism and of the best ways to deal with Mor mons; second, that their understanding of and attitudes toward the Mormons changed considerably over time. The historian must exercise considerable war iness in using those reports as sources, for they were fund-raising appeals, and a certain amount of demonizing the Mormons no doubt helped loosen those French purse strings.13 In a letter attached to the first report—an 1874 appeal for funds to help establish a Catholic school in Salt Lake City—Alemany admitted surprise at the warm reception the Mormons gave to the Catholics: “For some reason or other, they seem friendly to us; and if we could have a good Academy of Sisters there, much good could be hoped for.” 14 Scanlan amplified the meaning of “much good” in his 1876 report, wherein he urged that “A Catholic school is very much needed in Ogden, where all the Catholic children are attending either Mormon or Protestant schools. This should be attended to at an early date, otherwise there is not only a created the Diocesan Development Drive in the 1960s, and Bishop William K. Weigand created the Catholic Foundation of Utah in the 1980s. Even at that, the diocese still receives funds for special projects from the Catholic Church Extension Society and extraordinary grants from local patrons like Sam Skaggs. 13 Several of those reports, copies of which reside in the archives of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, have previously been edited for publication: John Bernard McGloin, “Two Early Reports Concerning Roman Catholicism in Utah, 1876–1881,” Utah Historical Quarterly 29 (October 1961): 333–46; Francis J. Weber, “Father Lawrence Scanlan’s Report of Catholicism in Utah, 1880,” Utah Historical Quarterly 34 (Fall 1966): 283–89, and “Catholicism Among the Mormons, 1875–79,” Utah Historical Quarterly 44 (Spring 1976): 112–32. As photocopies of all extant reports, both in French and English translation, exist in the Archives of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, I have used those copies even where a published text is available. 14 Alemany to the Society, January 31, 1874. 236 |
