Bishop on a mission: Wester aims to maintain community cooperation

Honored earlier this year by the Sutherland Institute for helping build bridges among Utah's faith communities, the Most Rev. John C. Wester, bishop of the Salt Lake Catholic Diocese, says his initial effort has merely been to maintain existing foundations and reciprocate to those who have been reaching out to him.

And, of course, to teach through word and deed that bridges among those of different faiths are based in simple friendship and understanding.

Saying he's been "traveling on bridges that had already been built" prior to his 2007 arrival, Wester added, "It's not like I came in and saw all these islands and built bridges between them — I'm building upon that which has already been done, and I'm grateful for that."

He's a little embarrassed by the "bridge-builder" title, though he says without sustaining the efforts and communication, "those bridges would collapse."

Bishop Wester said he's merely returning the warmth he has received in Salt Lake City. He lists newfound friendships with various religious and civic leaders including President Thomas S. Monson and Elder M. Russell Ballard of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish of the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, Sen. Orrin Hatch and former U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, to name a few.

His experiences have underscored the information given him by his Salt Lake predecessor, Archbishop George H. Niederauer of the Archdiocese of San Francisco. And while Bishop Wester arrived in Utah with no preconceived notions, he was aware of predominant perceptions.

"People have the idea, at least it's my impression, that Utah is an insulated, isolated kind of place not in touch with other groups or the rest of the country," he said. "I would say after two years here, quite the opposite is true — Utah is a place where religious leaders, civic leaders of all stripes and business leaders work together in a wonderful, cooperative way.

"Clearly, Utah defies the stereotypes and proves by its own actions that those stereotypes are wrong."

For Bishop Wester, building bridges means building a friendship.

"The foundation of a bridge is, 'Let's get to know one another, let's try to establish a relationship and then see where that takes us,' " he said. "And if you do it honestly, I think in most cases then you start to talk about issues that do matter, and the next tier is to focus on those values we share in common."

And he has found quite a few of those shared values while serving in Utah, values such as family, self-sacrifice, missionary zeal, prayer, spirituality, honesty, hard work, charity and concern for the poor.