Beginning in 1891, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City has seen ten bishops serve as the spiritual leader of Utah Catholics.  
All bishops are based at The Cathedral of the Madeleine.  

YearBishopHistory
1891The Right Reverend Lawrence Scanlan



 In 1873 Lawrence Scanlan took over St. Mary Magdalen parish in Salt Lake City and became the first bishop of the diocese in 1891.  Ambitious and energetic, he created parishes from Ogden to Silver Reef and from Park City to Ely, Nevada, as well as the Cathedral of the Madeleine, All Hallows College, St. Ann Orphanage and Holy Cross Hospital, assisted in many endeavors by the Holy Cross Sister1915The Right Reverend Joseph S. Glass, C.M.

Ordained Bishop of Salt Lake on August 24, 1915, he set out almost immediately to plan the redecoration of the Cathedral interior, the work for which he is best known.  Less well known is that he was a tireless traveler with a driving concern to establish missions and parishes in rural Utah wherever he could find a sufficient number of Catholics and recruit a priest.  
1920The Most Reverend Duane G. Hunt

From 1913-16 Duane G. Hunt served as Professor of Speech at the University of Utah, but he left that to be ordained by Bishop Joseph S. Glass on June 27, 1920, the first ordination to take place in the Cathedral of the Madeleine. When Bishop John J. Mitty took over the nearly bankrupt diocese in 1926, Hunt became his indispensable assistant.  Mitty recognized his unique academic background and talents and placed him in charge of The Intermountain Catholic and assigned him to give weekly radio broadcasts on KSL called the Utah Catholic Hour.  A prolific writer, he wrote a long series of books and pamphlets explaining and defending the Catholic faith and issued the texts of his radio broadcasts as pamphlets.
1926The Right Reverend John J. Mitty

Upon his ordination as Bishop of Salt Lake on September 8, 1926 he understood that he had been sent here for a purpose: to rescue the diocese from the financial malaise that Bishop Glass’s spending had created.  By the time he was installed as Co-adjutor Archbishop of San Francisco on February 4, 1932, his sometimes harsh methods had accomplished just that, and paved the way for achievement of complete solvency under his successor.
1932The Most Reverend James E. Kearney

He was consecrated Bishop of Salt Lake on October 28, 1932.  Although his tenure as bishop was even briefer than Bishop Mitty’s, he succeeded in completing his predecessor’s great task of getting the diocese out of debt and on solid financial ground.  That he accomplished that by 1936, during the depth of the Great Depression, is a remarkable achievement.  When he was installed as Bishop of Rochester, New York on November 11, 1937, he left behind a record as one of our most beloved bishops.
1960The Most Reverend Joseph Lennox Federal

Born in North Carolina on January 20, 1910 and ordained in Rome in 1934, he distinguished himself in ministering to rural parishes in his native state and was named rector of the cathedral in Raleigh in 1938. He became Auxiliary to Bishop Hunt in 1951 and named Co-adjutor with right of succession in 1958. When he became Ordinary of the diocese in 1960, he began a decade of extraordinary activity. One development was implementing the reforms of Vatican II, which he attended in all four sessions.  During the 1970s he oversaw the exterior renovation of the Cathedral, which had fallen into dangerous disrepair.  Also, he created the Diocesan Development Drive, the first systematic fund-raising mechanism for the diocese.
1980The Most Reverend William K. Weigand

William K. Weigand became Bishop of Salt Lake City on November 17, 1980.  Among his achievements were the expansion of the programs of Catholic Community Services, including construction of the Weigand Resource Center on Rio Grande Avenue, creation of the Catholic Foundation of Utah, a multimillion dollar endowment for a wide variety of diocesan and parish programs, and most conspicuously the $10.4 million interior renovation of the Cathedral.
1995The Most Reverend George H. Niederauer, Ph.D.Beginning his priestly ministry as a seminary teacher at St. John’s, George H. Niederauer was installed as Bishop of Salt Lake City on January 25, 1995. Salt Lake City achieved worldwide recognition in 2002 when it hosted the winter Olympics. Bishop Neiderauer and his staff were heavily occupied in making religious services and facilities available.  Perhaps his most conspicuous achievement, though, was the opening in 1993 of the Skaggs Catholic Center in Draper, and immense and impressively equipped parochial school funded by Sam and Aline Skaggs.
2007The Most Reverend John C. Wester

Following his ordaination in San Francisco in 1976, Archbishop John Charles Wester served the Bay area across various levels of education and admistration. On July 25, 1997, His Holiness, Pope John Paul II, named Reverend Wester a Prelate of Honor, giving him the title of Monsignor. He then served as the vicar for clergy in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. In 1998, Monsignor Wester was ordained auxiliary bishop of San Francisco and appointed to serve as the vicar general. On January 8, 2007, he was named Bishop of Salt Lake City and installed on March 14, 2007. His kind and giving spirit reflects his Episcopal motto: Abide in Christ.
2017The Most Reverend Oscar A. Solis, D.D.
The Most Reverend Oscar A. Solis was ordained a priest on April 28, 1979 for the Diocese of Cabanatuan. He was appointed Bishop on December 11, 2003 and ordained on February 10, 2004. He served as Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles until his appointment on January 10, 2017, as the Tenth Bishop of Salt Lake City.

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