Bernice Maher Mooney, diocesan archivist emeritus, dies

Intermountain Catholic

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Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald incenses the coffin during the final commendation at the funeral Mass for Bernice Maher Mooney. IC photo/Marie Mischel

Bernice Maher Mooney, who served for many years as the archivist for the Diocese of Salt Lake City and wrote three books about Catholic Utah, died Dec. 22, 2013. She was 85.

Bernice Elizabeth Maher was born May 21, 1928 in Salt Lake City to James and Julia Maher. A graduate of Judge Memorial Catholic High School, she attended Saint Mary of the Wasatch, then went on to graduate cum laude from the University of Utah with a degree in English. Later, she earned a Master of History from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

She met her future husband, John (Jay) Murray Mooney, in the third grade at Judge Memorial. The couple married on June 9, 1952 in the Cathedral of the Madeleine, and had five children. The family lived in Montana, New Mexico and California before returning to Salt Lake in 1978.

Mooney was active in the Catholic community. Father John J. Schwall, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Salt Lake City, recalled that Mooney attended daily Mass with her husband, serving as the sacristan.

"Bernice knew Jesus," Fr. Schwall said at the Dec. 29 memorial service. "She knew who he was, and she was with him every day. How do I know that; how can I give testimony to that? Because I watched her for more than five years every day at Mass. Every day. She was with Jesus."

Fr. Schwall also presided at the Dec. 30 funeral Mass, which was concelebrated by Monsignor Colin F. Bircumshaw, vicar general; Monsignor J. Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general emeritus; Father Martin Diaz, pastor of the Cathedral of the Madeleine; Father Andrew Skrzypiec, pastor of Saint Ambrose Parish; Father Patrick Carley, administrator of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish; Father John Norman and Monsignor M. Francis Mannion, pastor and pastor emeritus, respectively, of Saint Vincent de Paul Parish; Monsignor Michael Winterer, ret.; Father David Van Massenhove, pastor of Saint Thomas More Parish; and Monsignor Joseph Mayo, pastor of Saint John the Baptist Parish.

Deacons Lynn Johnson, Drew Petersen and Lowell Palm assisted at the Mass.

Mooney was a long-time member of the Catholic Women’s League, and served on the organization’s board. She also was a former president of the Cathedral Altar Society.

A writer, historian and archivist, Mooney was the author of The Story of the Cathedral of the Madeleine and Salt of the Earth, The History of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, 1776-1987, and co-authored Salt of the Earth: The History of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, 1776-2007 and Catholic Utah at the Turn of the Century, 1988-2002.

Monsignor Fitzgerald, who was Mooney’s co-author on the two books, recalled her as "dedicated to her family; a refined Catholic lady, a woman of faith whose faith meant everything to her, a woman who loved the Church in the good times and hard times and so loved to write the story of the Church, so loved to write the history of the diocese, and did such a marvelous job of pulling it all together, especially the early years of the diocese’s foundation."

Mooney made an excellent writer, Msgr. Fitzgerald said, because of her "penchant for details ... [and] she would spend so much time researching."

Although Mooney wasn’t trained as an archivist, she learned those skills, and "the head archivist of the Archdiocese of San Francisco told Bishop [George] Niederauer one time Bernice was the finest archivist he knew in the country," Msgr. Fitzgerald said. "The diocese is very, very blessed in all the work she did in organizing our archives."

In 1988, Mooney was honored by Pope John Paul II with the Cross of Honor (Pro Ecclesia Pontifice), the highest medal awarded to Catholic laity; and in 2009 she was appointed Dame of The Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI for her service to the Church.

She was named archivist emeritus of the Diocese of Salt Lake City and, in 2006, was presented with the Utah Manuscript Association’s Distinguished Archival Career Award.

Mooney was "a gentle and loving spirit," Fr. Schwall said, adding that she knew the person of Christ. "The Way that she found, the Truth that she found, the Life that she found, was not a bunch of words – although she was so clever with words – they were a Person, and she held on to this Person throughout her life, and because she did, our lives are so much richer."

Mooney is survived by her husband, Jay Mooney; children Julie, Mary, Anne (John Sparano) and James (Kimberly); sister Julie Maher, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her son John, her parents and sisters Norinne (Kunzweiler) and Mary Catherine (Mc-Broom) and brother James.