1777 to 1878

The earliest Catholic presence in Utah was the 1777 expedition of Francisco Atanazio Dominguez and Silvestre de Escalante from Santa Fe to California. They were the first Europeans to enter present-day Utah.^[2] In 1859, Reverend Bonaventure Keller celebrated the first mass in the Utah Territory for US Army soldiers at Camp Floyd. Edward Kelly purchased the first church property in Salt Lake City in 1866.^[2]

The first Catholic parish and church were established in 1871 by Patrick Walsh in Salt Lake City. In 1873, Archbishop Joseph Alemany of the Archdiocese of San Francisco sent Reverend Lawrence Scanlan to Utah to manage what was then the largest Catholic parish in the country.

Scanlan worked as a circuit rider, visiting the 800 Catholic soldiers, immigrant miners and railroad workers in the Utah Territory.^[3] In 1875, he invited the Sisters of the Holy Cross to Utah, where they founded St. Mary's Academy and Holy Cross Hospital in Salt Lake City.^[4] Scanlan purchased property in Ogden in 1875 for Saint Joseph's church, which was dedicated in 1877.^[5]

1878 to 1891

In 1878, Scanlan was named vicar forane by Alemany, making him the superior of the six Catholic priests in the territory.^[6] As a Catholic missionary in an area dominated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), Scanlan maintained a cordial relationship with the LDS community. In 1879, he was invited by LDS leader John Macfarlane to use the St. George Tabernacle in St. George to celebrate a mass, with accompaniment by the tabernacle choir.^[7] Scanlan established St. John's Parish in Silver Reef, a mining town, that same year.^[8] St. Mary's Church was constructed in Park City, then a mining town, in 1881.^[9]

In September 1886, Scanlan opened All Hallows College at Salt Lake City. He served as a faculty member and lived at the college from 1887 to 1889.^[10]

In 1887, Pope Leo XIII erected the Apostolic Vicariate of Utah and Eastern Nevada, taking its territory from the Archdiocese of San Francisco. The pope appointed Scanlan as the apostolic vicar.^[11] In 1889, the Marist Fathers assumed control of All Hallows College, operating it until it closed in 1918.^[10]

1891 to 1926

On January 27, 1891, Leo XIII suppressed the vicariate and replaced it with the new Diocese of Salt Lake, keeping Scanlan as bishop. That same year, Scanlan broke ground for the new cathedral in 1899. He also opened St. Francis of Assisi church in Provo, the first Catholic church in Utah County.^[12] Scanlan established an official newspaper, The Intermountain Catholic, in 1899. He started missions and parishes throughout the new State of Utah. The Cathedral of St Mary Magdalene opened in 1909.^[13][2] Scanlan died in 1915.

The second bishop of Salt Lake was Reverend Joseph Glass of the Diocese of Monterey-Los Angeles, named by Pope Benedict XV in 1915.^[14] Glass renamed the Cathedral of Mary Magdalene as the Cathedral of the Madeleine. He also added distinctly Catholic murals to the building exterior.^[15] Some observers said that Glass added the images to confront LDS followers, but others said he simply "wanted to teach Utah Catholics the basic tenets of their faith."^[16] Glass died in 1926.

1926 to 1980

In 1926, Reverend John Mitty from the Archdiocese of New York was appointed the third bishop of Salt Lake City by Pope Pius XI.^[17] Mitty inherited a diocese deeply in debt. Glass had borrowed money to pay the interest on previous debt, and left the diocese owing over $300,000. In 1931, the Vatican transferred the seven counties in eastern Nevada from the Diocese of Salt Lake to the new Diocese of Reno. To reduce the diocesan debt, Mitty focused on improving the weekly offertory collection. When he left in 1932, the diocese was beginning to pay off its debts, and his successor was able to finish paying them off in 1936.

After Pius XI in 1932 named Mitty as coadjutor archbishop of San Francisco, the pope appointed Reverend James E. Kearney of New York to replace him in Salt Lake.^[18] In 1937, Kearney became bishop of the Diocese of Rochester. To replace Kearney, Pope Pius XII named Monsignor Duane Hunt.^[19] During his tenure, Hunt established fifteen parishes throughout the state.^[20] He also invited such religious institutes as the Carmelites, the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, and the Trappists to serve in Utah. In 1951, the Vatican renamed the Diocese of Salt Lake as the Diocese of Salt Lake City. Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Federal was named coadjutor bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake City in 1958 by Pope John XXIII to assist Hunt.

When Hunt died in 1960, Federal automatically succeeded him as bishop.^[21] During Federal's tenure, crews replaced the slate roof of the Cathedral of the Madeleine with copper along with some sandstone blocks and gargoyles.^[22] In 1970, he ordered the tolling of the cathedral bells toll when the hearse carrying the body of LDS President David O. McKay passed by.^[16] After 20 years as bishop of Salt Lake City, Federal retired in 1980.

1980 to present

The next bishop of Salt Lake City was Monsignor William Weigand of the Diocese of Boise, named by Pope John Paul II in 1980. In 1990, Weigand created one of the strongest sexual abuse policies then in effect in the United States.^[23] Weigand led a $9.7 million restoration of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City from 1991 to 1993. Aside from repairing and cleaning the cathedral, the restoration aimed at bringing it into compliance with liturgical changes resulting from the Second Vatican Council in Rome. The most important change was moving the altar closer to the congregation.^[24] In 1993, Weigand became bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento.

To replace Weigand, John Paul II named Monsignor George Niederauer of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles as the next bishop of Salt Lake City in 1994. He became archbishop of San Francisco in 2005. Pope Benedict XVI replaced him in Salt Lake City with Auxiliary Bishop John Wester of San Francisco in 2007.^[25] Wester served in Salt Lake City until his appointment as archbishop of Santa Fe in 2015.^[26]

As of 2023, the bishop of the Diocese of Salt Lake city is Oscar Solis, formerly an auxiliary bishop of Los Angeles. He was appointed by Pope Francis in 2017.^[27]In August 2018, Reverend Andrezej Skrzypiec was charged with patronizing a prostitute, a class-A misdemeanor, after being arrested in a police sting operation in Salt Lake City. The diocese suspended him after his arrest.^[28]

In October 2018, Solis released the Pastoral Plan for the diocese. It focused on developing a comprehensive vision for strengthening faith formation, promoting vocations to the priesthood, seeking new ways to support the diocese financially and support the needy and increasing the reverence and devotion of the Eucharist. The plan was implemented between 2018 and 2023.^[29]

Sex abuse

In a 1993 article in the Salt Lake Tribune, an Ogden family told about reporting to the diocese in 1990 that their 14 year old son had been sexually abused by Reverend Ray Devlin, a Jesuit teacher at St. Joseph's High School. The diocese asked the family to stay quiet about the assault; in return, the diocese would send Devlin away for treatment and never assign him near children again. However, in 1993, the family learned that Devlin was serving at a parish in Virginia City, Nevada, with proximity to children. At that point, the family contact the Tribune.^[30]After the publication of the article, the Diocese of Reno-Las Vegas removed Devlin from his parish; he was sent to a Jesuit retirement home and was permanently suspended from ministry.

In 2003, brothers Charles and Louis Colosimo sued the Diocese of Salt Lake City, stating that they had been sexually assaulted as children by Reverend James F. Rapp from 1968 to 1972. They said that Rapp would invite underage boys to pool parties at his residence, ply them with alcohol and then assault them. The plaintiffs said that the diocese had received previous complaints about Rapp, but took no actions to protect the children.^[31] A judge dismissed the lawsuit the same year, stating that the plaintiffs had waited too long to file the lawsuit and had insufficient proof.^[32]In 2016, Rapp was sentenced to 40 years in prison in Oklahoma for sexually assaulting boys there.^[33] He was later convicted of similar crimes in Michigan and sentenced to 20 years there.

The diocese was sued in October 2020 for over $300,000 by a Utah man, Guy Platt. He claimed that he had been sexually abused and physically assaulted by Rapp as a second grader during the 1970s at St. Ann Catholic School in Kearns. Platt testified that a nun walked in during one assault by Rapp; she threatened to have the boy removed from the care of his foster parents if he told anyone about it.^[34]

Reverend Mario Arbelaez Olarte of Ogden was arrested in May 2017 in a police sting of social media sexual predators. Arbelaez Olerte was changed with a misdemeanor after arriving to meet with a person he thought was 14 years old but was instead a policeman. He pleaded no contest to the charge and agreed to leave the United States.^[35][36]

In December 2018, the diocese published a list of 19 diocesan clergy with credible accusations of sexual abuse of minors.^[37]

Apostolic Vicar of Salt Lake

Lawrence Scanlan (1887 - 1915)

Bishops of Salt Lake

1. Lawrence Scanlan (1887-1915)
2. Joseph Sarsfield Glass (1915-1926)
3. John Joseph Mitty (1926-1932), appointed Coadjutor Archbishop and later Archbishop of San Francisco
4. James Edward Kearney (1932-1937), appointed Bishop of Rochester
5. Duane Garrison Hunt (1937-1960)

Bishops of Salt Lake City

1. Duane Garrison Hunt (1937-1960)
2. Joseph Lennox Federal (1960-1980)
3. William Kenneth Weigand (1980-1993), appointed Bishop of Sacramento
4. George Hugh Niederauer (1994-2005), appointed Archbishop of San Francisco
5. John Charles Wester (2007-2015), appointed Archbishop of Santa Fe
6. Oscar Azarcon Solis (2017–present)

Coadjutor bishops

Joseph Lennox Federal (1958-1960)

Auxiliary bishops

1. Leo John Steck (1948-1950)
2. Joseph Lennox Federal (1951-1958), appointed Coadjutor Bishop and later Bishop here

Other diocesan priests who became bishop

Robert Joseph Dwyer, appointed Bishop of Reno in 1952

Elementary and middle schools

• Blessed Sacrament Catholic School – Sandy
• J.E Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School – Salt Lake City
• Kearns-Saint Ann Catholic School – South Salt Lake
• Madeleine Choir Catholic School – Salt Lake City
• Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School – Salt Lake City
• Saint Andrew Catholic School – Riverton
• Saint Francis Xavier Catholic School – Kearns
• Saint John the Baptist Catholic Elementary School – Draper
• Saint John the Baptist Catholic Middle School – Draper
• Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary School – Ogden
• Saint Marguerite Catholic School – Tooele
• Saint Olaf Catholic School – Bountiful
• Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic School – Salt Lake City

High schools

• Juan Diego Catholic High School – Draper
• Judge Memorial Catholic High School – Salt Lake City
• St. Joseph Catholic High School – Ogden