Year of St. Joseph Pilgrimage - Saint Joseph Parish, Ogden

IC photo/Marie Mischel

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Saint Joseph Catholic Church in Ogden was built in 1902.

Editor’s Note: For the Year of St. Joseph, Bishop Oscar A. Solis has dedicated as pilgrimage sites the three diocesan parishes named after the foster father of Jesus. The Intermountain Catholic is profiling each of the parishes. This week, we will explore St. Joseph Parish in Ogden. Next week, we will visit St. Joseph Parish in Montecello; the week following, St. Joseph the Worker Parish in West Jordan.

By Michael Courtney

Archivist, Diocese of Salt Lake City

Union Pacific Railroad laid tracks and opened train stations in northern Utah in the 1860s, bringing in new employees, most of whom were Irish Catholics.  

By 1872, Ogden’s Catholic community grew large enough for it to request that a priest regularly visit the city to celebrate Mass. The Rev. Patrick Walsh, a priest from Salt Lake City, answered this request, celebrating Mass at the Ogden home of Michael Maguire on Jan. 5, 1872. After this first Mass, Father Walsh continued to make trips to care for the spiritual needs of Ogden’s Catholic community.   

By the mid-1870s, the need for a church building in Ogden was evident. In 1875, the Rev. Lawrence Scanlan, later first Bishop of Salt Lake, purchased land on the south side of 25th Street between Lincoln and Grant avenues to build a church. On Easter Sunday 1877, Fr. Scanlan celebrated the first Mass at St. Joseph Church. The Most Reverend Joseph Alemany, Archbishop of San Francisco, formally dedicated St. Joseph Church on October 5, 1879. In 1881, Fr. Patrick Cushnahan (later Monsignor) was appointed pastor.

Under Fr. Cushnahan’s administration, St. Joseph’s thrived. According to the Reverend W.R. Harris, author of The Catholic Church in Utah, “the ecclesiastical growth and expansion of the Catholic Church in this charming and attractive city is so intimately interwoven with the sacerdotal life of its pastor, Father Cushnahan, that the separation of the one from the local life of the other would disrupt a union apparently providential.”

With a flourishing Catholic community, the need for a larger church structure arose. In 1899, the cornerstone of the new church was laid at the current location, 514 24th St. Bishop Lawrence Scanlan dedicated the new St. Joseph Church on Dec. 14, 1902.

In 1905, three new altars were constructed in the church. By 1926, the parish had a number of active societies: Society of the Holy Name, League of the Sacred Heart, an Altar Society, Sewing Society, Knights of Columbus and Catholic Woman’s League.  

After 70 years of use, significant changes came to the parish. Fr. John A. La Branche, who was pastor from 1972 to 1977, oversaw the renovation of the church. The sandstone outer walls were sandblasted, minor repairs were made and the interior of the church was re-decorated.

In the late 1970s, to encourage and provide opportunities for church members to participate in the operation of the parish, Fr. Thomas Kaiser (pastor 1977-1987) established a parish council. He also purchased a new grade school facility that had been abandoned by the Ogden Public School District, and transformed the old St. Joseph grade school into St. Anne’s Center to serve homeless members of the Ogden community. Fr. Kaiser also purchased additional property to expand the parking.

In 1999, St. Joseph Parish celebrated the centennial of the laying of the church cornerstone by opening the time capsule that had been placed inside 100 years previously. Found in the time capsule was a cross, coins, small statues and newspaper articles. A new time capsule was placed in the cornerstone.

The parish celebration of its 100th anniversary occurred in December 2002, overseen by the pastor, Fr. Colin F. Bircumshaw (later Monsignor), and the Most Rev. George H. Niederauer, eighth Bishop of Salt Lake City.

Fr. Bircumshaw, who led the parish from 1994 to 2003 and is now the diocese’s vicar general, also purchased the Mansion House to expand parish facilities and parking. The parish expanded further under the pastorate of Fr. Kenneth Vialpando (2004-2016). The parish built a new parish center, with offices, classrooms and gathering areas for the community. The project was enhanced with significant financial gifts from the Trappist monks in Huntsville.

The St. Joseph community established several Catholic educational institutions in the area: Ogden’s first Catholic school operated in the church basement from Easter 1877 until June 1878. Because of its popularity, Fr. Scanlan invited the Sisters of the Holy Cross to Ogden to open a school. In 1878, the Holy Cross Sisters opened Sacred Heart Academy for Girls. The academy’s enrollment grew so much that by 1892 the Holy Cross Sisters built a new school, Sacred Heart Academy, which closed in 1938.

While the academy proved successful, the need to educate boys and girls who did not enroll at Sacred Heart prompted the opening of St. Joseph School in 1881 – also administered by the Sisters of the Holy Cross.

After many years of operation, to accommodate the growing student body, in 1920 Msgr. Cushnahan purchased land on the corner of 28th Street and Lincoln to build a new parochial school. In 1923, the new St. Joseph School was dedicated by the Most Rev. Joseph S. Glass, second Bishop of Salt Lake.

In 1979, St. Joseph School moved to the elementary school’s current facility, purchased from the Ogden School District, on Quincy Street. In 1999, a new wing of the school was dedicated. The new wing added 12 classrooms, a computer lab, music rooms and extended day program.

The opening of St. Joseph Catholic High School was announced in 1929 by the Most Rev. John Mitty, third Bishop of Salt Lake. Like the elementary school, the high school was run by the Sisters of the Holy Cross. Over the next 20 years, the high school grew considerably, and by the 1950s, a new high school building was sorely needed. Msgr. Patrick Kennedy, pastor, raised the funds and the new high school building was dedicated in 1954.

That same year St. Joseph High School witnessed another change: Jesuits from the California Province of the Society of Jesus joined the Holy Cross sisters at the school. The Jesuits also staffed St. Henry Parish in Brigham City, St. Mary Mission and then the new St. Mary Parish, now in West Haven.

In April 2000, Sam Skaggs donated $2 million to St. Joseph Catholic High School; an additional $1 million was pledged by another donor. With these donations, the high school added a fully-equipped art center, black-box theater and a soccer field.

 Although much has changed in Ogden since the first Irish immigrants settled in the city, St. Joseph Parish has remained a constant presence in Ogden, nourishing the spiritual and educational needs of the Ogden Catholic community.