Bishop John C. Wester and Elder M. Russell Ballard share 2011 Days of '47 President's Award

Intermountain Catholic

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The Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, (at podium) and Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, receive the President's Award at the 2011 Days of '47 Pioneers of Progress Awards Banquet at the Little America Hotel. IC photo/Marie Mischel

By Marie Mischel

Intermountain Catholic

SALT LAKE CITY — Two of Utah’s top religious leaders – the Most Rev. John C. Wester, Bishop of Salt Lake City, and Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints – were recognized for their work in the Beehive State during the 2011 Pioneers of Progress Awards banquet, presented July 13 by the Days of ’47.

The Pioneers of Progress Awards recognize "those who continue Utah’s rich pioneer heritage of vision, industry, integrity, sacrifice and courage," according to the event program.

Bishop Wester and Elder Ballard were jointly awarded the President’s Award. The other award recipients were Robert Bennett, Science & Technology Development Award; Mac Christensen, Business & Enterprise Award; Pastor France A. Davis, Education, Health & Humanitarian Assistance Award; Ardean Watts, Historic & Creative Arts Award; and the late George C. Hatch, Legacy Award.

Bishop Wester and Elder Ballard were presented the President’s Award for their humanitarian, religious and community work, said KUTV reporter Dan Rascon in the video presentation at the banquet.

In accepting the award, Elder Ballard said Utah is the best place in the world to live because of "the sense of community, the sense of loving one another, the sense of trying to do the right thing for the right reasons."

Elder Ballard also said he was honored "to stand side by side with Bishop Wester. We have really become wonderful friends and I have the greatest admiration for him and all that he’s done in our cities."

Bishop Wester said it was a privilege to be honored with his friend Elder Ballard, who represents the hospitality, graciousness and love in Utah, where many original pioneers came after fleeing religious persecution elsewhere. "They were looking for a place where they could live the true American dream, where religion can breathe freely, where people of good will can live together, where we can walk tall, shoulder to shoulder with so many other faiths," the bishop said, adding that he has found that to be true in Utah since he arrived here five years ago.

"There is true freedom of religion here," he said. "But like those pioneers we have to realize that we haven’t arrived, we have to keep fighting for these principles, for these values, that so inspired our pioneers."

In the video interview conducted by Rascon, Bishop Wester said Catholics and members of the LDS Church "share many common themes and priorities and concerns… A lot of what the Church is saying is unpopular, and people don’t want to hear it, but that doesn’t mean we should stop saying it. We’re not saying it to be popular."

Elder Ballard spoke on the same issue in his interview. "There are a lot of voices that say that people of faith have no business speaking out in the public square," he said. "We don’t believe that. We believe that it’s very, very important that on basic moral issues that people of faith must speak out on that in the public square, lest we lose it."

Their comments echoed this year’s Days of ’47 theme, "Press Forward, Pioneers."

"The courage, resilience and determination to press forward in the midst of great difficulty is the hallmark of the pioneering spirit that links us as pioneers of today with the pioneers of 1847, and while the challenges may be somewhat different than those faced by our ancestors, certainly the incomparable spirit of today’s pioneers is no different than theirs," said Eric Jergensen, president of the Days of ’47.