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Show Introducing . . . The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Moreton By Richard F. Dwyer Editor's Note The following fol-lowing article was written in THE POINT, the new Utah state prison magazine. maga-zine. Many hundreds of men have passed through the portals of the Utah state prison in the course of twenty years. The history of the prison shows that they came from every walk of life and were guilty of every folly known to humanity, but to one man at least they were, and are, all alike in that their very souls were crying out for understanding, for someone to champion their lost causes at a time when they had reached the lowest point on humanities ecale, for someone to restore their sense of values, to re-es tablish contact with loved ones from whom they had drifted far afield and, finally, in several instances in-stances to walk the last mile to death, lending his strength and courage and calm assurance that facing the firing squad was not the end but only the end of man's judgment; now he would face a merciful and just God who weighed every good act of his life as opposed to one foul deed that required he pay with his life. I ritiual is there, the sermon is strictly "Con." And if, by any chance, you expect to hear, "you poor fellow, it's too bad you're in here," you'd better cinch up your shoes or you're subject to be blasted right out of them. He has a disconcerting disconcert-ing way of making you face reality to the extent that you feel he has singled you out for his sermon. In any case it underlines un-derlines the fact that fundamentally funda-mentally we are all pretty similar. sim-ilar. It is reassuring too, to have someone know all about you and want to help you. It's very nice to have friends who are willing to overlook your faults, but the Padre helps you faee 'em. BORN IX RHODE ISLAND Monsignor Moreton was born in Providence, R. I., of fine Irish parents, and his home life is reflected in his work and daily life. It is a small wonder that a family so closely knit in the fine tradition of personal integrity and faith in God should produce more than one to a life of service to Him and such is the case in the Moreton family. Pride -in his sister, Sr. M. Romanus, R.S.M,, who passed away in 1942, and his brither, Father John, who passed away in 1935, as also a niece, Sr. M. Romanus, of Holy Cross Order, are in the Padre's voice when he speaks of them. Monsignor Moreton was edu-1 cated at LaSalle Academy, Mlt. Rt Pharos fnllpcrp anrl Rt ning correspondence with a lovable lov-able old rogue who flits from one state to another with the agility of a boy despite his 70 years. Regardless of their station, sta-tion, they all have this in common com-mon that they share in the abundant affection of a very real guy. VISITED EUROPE The Padre's career was star-studded star-studded this past year by the gut ot an extended trip to Europe Eu-rope on the occasion of his silver sil-ver jubilee 25th year of priesthood. priest-hood. Such is the man's true 1 humility that he is still amazed that Pope Pius had information about his work and inquired about it during their private audience, and his cup was full when he celebrated mass in the ancient basilica of St. Peter's in Rome. There is no place to start or stop a story about our -Padre, because each day unfolds a new Irish wit, a heart as big as himself, him-self, coupled with the intensity of a devotion to his work, and his God with a humor that keeps his reason intact, and you have the man who is available avail-able to you every day in the chaplain's office. A few show appreciation as witness a gift the Padre cherishes cher-ishes form one of the inmates a few years back. A very beautiful beau-tiful red silk necktie. i THE REV. MORETON Such is an introduction to our Padre, as we know him, or to you, the Rt. Rev. Msgr. J. P. Mtoreton, man of God, our chaplain. chap-lain. Having done more time than most Lifers, the Padre is a fast man with a "sharpshooter" and has been exposed to every device de-vice known to some pretty gifted gift-ed operators, but of this intimate inti-mate relationship has come a love, patience, tolerance and understanding un-derstanding that defies comprehension compre-hension and a very few realize what he gives of his time, his life possessions to the men in his charge in the course of a year. Just as he does a little with each man that goes to the "Wall" so also does he restore ( life and all it means to those who have long since despaired. SUNDAY SERVICES Attending the Padre's service serv-ice on Sunday would be a revelation reve-lation to many people, Catholic and non-Catholic. One would expect the conventional church service, but even though the Charles College, and St. Mary's in Maryland, and had a final five years at St. Patrick's in Menlo Park, California. He was ordained a priest in 1924, right here in Salt Lake City, where he taught school here and in Ogden. He was chaplain for the C. C. C, for all of Utah and part of Arizona, as well as chaplain at Fort Douglas and Holy Cross Hospital. His vast knowledge and association with men and their problems led to his appointment ap-pointment as chaplain at the prison. He devoted his spare time to the study of penology and was the first prison chaplain chap-lain west of the Mississippi to attend the Institute of Catholic Chaplains held at Catholic University Uni-versity in Washington, D. C. This institute, which he attended attend-ed many times, has full cooperation cooper-ation of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He is widely known for his work against capital punishment, both on the speaker's speak-er's platform and via the na-tioinal na-tioinal publications and a national na-tional correspondence. His staggering stag-gering number of friends run the gamut of the social scale from high-raitking diplomatic officials, the military, radio, stage, screen; an eccentric millionaire mil-lionaire in Cleveland to a run- |