Robert Joseph Dwyer

Robert Joseph Dwyer (August 1, 1908 - March 24, 1976) was an American Roman Catholic priest and archbishop and an editor and historian of the American west. He has the distinction of being the first native Utahn ordained to the Catholic priesthood (Topping, p. 38).

Dwyer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the only son of John and Mable Dwyer, and was educated at local Catholic grammar and high schools. He attended seminaries in both Pennsylvania and California, and was ordained on June 11, 1932 for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. Dwyer served as rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in Salt Lake City, and was named Monsignor in 1951. He was appointed the second Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno in Reno, Nevada on May 19, 1952 by Pope Pius XII, and was consecrated August 5, 1952. Pope Paul VI appointed him the fifth Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, in Portland, Oregon, on December 9, 1966. Retiring on January 22, 1974 due to ill health, he died in Piedmont, California on March 24, 1976. [http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdwyer.html] [http://www.archpdx.org/previous-archbishops/ab_dwyer.htm]

As a historian

Dwyer began his work as a historian of the American west at the Catholic University of America, in Washington, D.C. in 1938, receiving his Ph.D. in history in 1941. His dessertation was published as "The Gentile Comes to Utah: A Study in Religious and Social Conflict (1862-1890)" and is considered an accomplished and objective work on the religious history of early Utah. Dwyer described Mormonism as an attempt to resurrect the idea of creating an ideal human order on earth. Sections of this work addressed the conflicts between the religious stance of Brigham Young, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the antipolygamy crusade launched by the federal government (The Gentile Comes to Utah, p. 97, Topping, p. 40).

Although his work as a historian was secondary to his religious calling, he served as a member of the governing and editorial boards of the Utah State Historical Society from 1943 to 1952. Dwyer periodically acted as editor to the Utah Historical Quarterly, and produced two noted volumes. In 1943, he edited work on the diary of Albert Tracy, a soldier in Albert Sidney Johnston's troops during the Utah War and in 1946 he edited a volume on Mormon pioneer Lorenzo Dow Young which contained a biography of Young by James Amasa Little, an edited diary of Lorenzo Dow Young and additional information on the pioneer's extensive family.

After he became Archbishop, Dwyer became a member of the board of advisors of the Western History Center at the University of Utah.

Publications

*"The Gentile Comes to Utah: A Study in Religious and Social Conflict (1862-1890)." Washington D.C., Catholic University of America Press, 1941, republished in 1971.

External links

* [http://www.archdpdx.org/previous-archbishops/ab_dwyer.htm - Archbishop Dwyer biography]

References

*Topping, Gary. "Utah Historians and the Reconstruction of Western History." 2003, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Oklahoma. ISBN 0-8061-3561-1