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Robert Joseph Dwyer (August 1, 1908 – March 24, 1976) was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He was the fifth Archbishop of Portland from 1966 to 1974, having previously served as the second Bishop of Reno (1952–66).

Early life and education

Dwyer was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the only child of John Charles and Mabel (née Maynard) Dwyer. His father was of Irish descent, and his mother of French Canadian. He attended Wasatch Public School and Judge Memorial High School. In 1925, he enrolled at the Marist Seminary in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Shortly afterwards, he transferred to St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, California.

Priesthood

On June 11, 1932, Dwyer was ordained to the priesthood by Bishop Edward Kelly. He was the first native Utah to be ordained a priest for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. His first assignment was as a curate at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, where he remained for two years. From 1934 to 1938, he served as chaplain at the College of Saint Mary-of-the-Wasatch and editor of The Intermountain Catholic. He was then sent to continue his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1941 with a thesis entitled: "The Gentile Comes to Utah: A Study in Religious and Social Conflict 1862-1890".

Following his return to Utah, Dwyer served as diocesan superintendent of Catholic schools (1941–52) and resumed his position as editor of the diocesan newspaper. He became diocesan director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith in 1942. He was named rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine in 1948, and raised to the rank of Monsignor in 1950.

Episcopacy

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.

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 dissertation 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.

References

1. ^ Curtis, Georgina Pell (1961). The American Catholic Who's Who. Vol. XIV. Grosse Pointe, Michigan: Walter Romig.
2. ^ "Archbishop Robert Joseph Dwyer". Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland. Archived from the original on 2010-07-14.
3. "Archbishop Robert Joseph Dwyer". Catholic-Hierarchy.org.
4. ^ Mooney, Bernice M. (1994), "Robert J. Dwyer", Utah History Encyclopedia, University of Utah Press, ISBN 9780874804256, archived from the original on March 21, 2024, retrieved April 18, 2024
5. http://www.catholic-hierarchy.org/bishop/bdwyer.html
6. http://www.archpdx.org/previous-archbishops/ab_dwyer.htm

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

External links

• Archbishop Dwyer biography
• Robert Joseph Dwyer at Find a Grave

v t e Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon
Ordinaries	Archbishops of Oregon City François Norbert Blanchet Charles John Seghers William Hickley Gross Alexander Christie Archbishops of Portland Edward Howard Robert Joseph Dwyer Cornelius Michael Power William Levada Francis George John George Vlazny Alexander King Sample
Auxiliary bishops	Paul E. Waldschmidt Kenneth Steiner Peter Leslie Smith
Churches	List List of churches in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland in Oregon Cathedral St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Abbeys Mount Angel Abbey Our Lady of Guadalupe Trappist Abbey Parishes Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church, Cottage Grove St. Mary's Church, Mount Angel St. Patrick's Church, Portland St. Paul's Church, St. Paul St. Joseph's Church, Salem St. Boniface Church, Sublimity Former churches St. Patrick's Church, Independence St. John the Evangelist Church, Zigzag
Education	Higher education University of Portland Marylhurst University High schools Blanchet Catholic School, Salem Central Catholic High School, Portland De La Salle North Catholic High School, Portland Jesuit High School, Portland La Salle High School, Milwaukie Marist Catholic High School, Eugene Regis High School, Stayton St. Mary's Academy, Portland St. Mary's High School, Medford Valley Catholic School, Beaverton
Priests	Liam Cary Francis Peter Leipzig Edward John O'Dea Edwin Vincent O'Hara Charles Joseph O'Reilly
Miscellany	Catholic Sentinel Oregon Catholic Press Monastery of Our Lady of Jordan Monastery of the Precious Blood The Grotto
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v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Reno
Ordinaries	Thomas Kiely Gorman Robert Joseph Dwyer Michael Joseph Green Norman McFarland Daniel F. Walsh Phillip Francis Straling Randolph Roque Calvo Daniel Henry Mueggenborg
Churches	Cathedral St. Thomas Aquinas Cathedral Parishes Immaculate Conception Church, Sparks St. Mary's in the Mountains Church, Virginia City
Education	High school Bishop Manogue High School, Reno
Priests	Thomas Joseph Connolly
Miscellany	St. Mary's Regional Medical Center, Reno
Catholicism portal

v t e Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City
Bishops	Ordinaries Lawrence Scanlan Joseph Sarsfield Glass John Joseph Mitty James E. Kearney Duane Garrison Hunt Joseph Lennox Federal William Weigand George Hugh Niederauer John Charles Wester Oscar A. Solis Auxiliary Leo John Steck
Churches	Cathedral Cathedral of the Madeleine Parishes St. John the Baptist Church, Draper St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Park City
Education	Elementary and middle schools Blessed Sacrament Catholic School, Sandy J.E Cosgriff Memorial Catholic School, Salt Lake City Kearns-Saint Ann Catholic School, South Salt Lake Madeleine Choir Catholic School, Salt Lake City Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School, Salt Lake City Saint Andrew Catholic School, Riverton Saint Francis Xavier Catholic School, Kearns Saint John the Baptist Catholic Elementary School, Draper Saint John the Baptist Catholic Middle School, Draper Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary School, Ogden Saint Marguerite Catholic School, Tooele Saint Olaf Catholic School, Bountiful Saint Vincent de Paul Catholic School, Salt Lake City High schools Juan Diego Catholic High School, Draper Judge Memorial Catholic High School, Salt Lake City St. Joseph Catholic High School, Ogden
Priests	Robert Joseph Dwyer
Miscellany	Abbey of Our Lady of the Holy Trinity Skaggs Catholic Center
Catholicism portal

• 1908 births
• 1976 deaths
• Roman Catholic archbishops of Portland in Oregon
• Roman Catholic bishops of Reno
• Saint Patrick's Seminary and University alumni
• Catholic University of America alumni
• Participants in the Second Vatican Council
• Catholic University of America faculty
• Clergy from Salt Lake City
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City
• 20th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in the United States
• 20th-century American historians
• American male non-fiction writers
• Religious leaders from Utah
• Writers from Salt Lake City
• 20th-century American male writers
• American people of Irish descent
• American people of French-Canadian descent