Michael Patrick O’Brien (editor), Jean Welch Hill, Gary Topping, Jim Larson, Nick Blaylock, Scott Dodge, and George Pence.
Michael Patrick O’Brien is an employment law and media law attorney practicing with the law firm of Parsons Behle & Latimer in Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned a degree in Government and Theology from the University of Notre Dame in 1983, and a law degree from the University of Utah College of Law in 1986. He grew up in Ogden and graduated from St. Joseph’s High School in 1979. He has served on the school boards of St. Vincent DePaul School, Utah Catholic Schools, and Judge Memorial Catholic High School, and also as president of the boards of the 4th Street Homeless Clinic and the Utah Ulster Project. He was close friends with the Trappist monks who lived in Huntsville, Utah from 1947 to 2017. His book Monastery Mornings, about growing up with the monks at the old Trappist monastery in Huntsville, Utah, was published by Paraclete Press in August 2021 and awarded the best non-fiction book of 2022 by the League of Utah Writers.
Jean Welch Hill is the Government Liaison and Director of the Diocesan Peace and Justice Commission for the Diocese of Salt Lake City, among other duties. In her current position, Ms. Hill uses principles of social justice to educate elected officials at the state and national level regarding the impacts of proposed legislation on the poor and vulnerable, life and human dignity, and the common good. She works with the Commission to inspire other Catholics to join in the Church’s social justice mission. Prior to joining the Diocese, Jean served as an attorney for the Utah State Board of Education for 12 years. She has also taught history at Judge Memorial Catholic High School and was an editorial writer for the Salt Lake Tribune.
Gary Topping is a historian and archivist living in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Although a native of the southern Oregon coast, he became a “naturalized” Utahn in 1977 when he completed his Ph.D. at the University of Utah and found employment as Curator of Manuscripts at the Utah State Historical Society. In 1991 he accepted a faculty appointment at Salt Lake Community College, where he also met his future wife, Marianna Hopkins. In 2001 while still teaching, he became part-time Archivist of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City. He is now retired from both positions. He is a Fellow of the Utah State Historical Society and Honorary Lifetime Member. He has written eleven books, including most recently D. Michael Quinn: Mormon Historian (2022).
Jim Larson is a graduate of the University of Wyoming. He received his B.S. degree in Petroleum Engineering in 1983 and spent 21 years in oil and natural gas exploration and production in the United States, Canada and Russia. In 2004, he changed careers and joined the faculty at J.E. Cosgriff Memorial Catholic school in Salt Lake City, Utah, as a middle school math and science instructor. His students have won numerous awards in science competitions and Jim has received both local and national recognition as an outstanding teacher, including the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science Teaching in 2011.
Nick Blaylock is a recent MFA graduate from the University of Utah, and has held semi-professional careers in dance, dog training, and music. Nick currently is working as a Montessori assistant guide for elementary students. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his partner Brea and their dog Audrey. Nick’s spiritual background consists of relationships within the Baptist Church, United Pentecostal, and Non-denominational. Nick enjoys finding wonderment, risk, and peace. He would like to express his gratitude for Mike O’Brien (and family) and the other contributors here for allowing him this opportunity to think out loud.
Scott Dodge is a Roman Catholic deacon for the Diocese of Salt Lake City. He is a native of Ogden, Utah. While an undergraduate at the University of Utah, he became Catholic. After college, Deacon Scott worked full-time for the Diocese of Salt Lake City and then served as full-time Director of Religious Education & Formation at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. He began diaconate formation in 2000 and was ordained a deacon on 25 January 2004 by then-Bishop George Niederauer in The Cathedral of the Madeleine. He currently serves at St. Olaf parish in Bountiful, Utah. Prior to being assigned to St. Olaf, he served for 11 years at The Cathedral of the Madeleine. In addition to completing a degree in Philosophy at the University of Utah, he earned a master’s degree from The Institute in Pastoral Ministries at St Mary’s University of Minnesota. He is currently a candidate for a doctorate of ministry at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon. He has published articles in America and Emmanuel magazines. He also was a contributor to the Italian on-line magazine Il Sussidiario. In addition to adult religious education and formation, he is deeply involved in ecumenism, forming new deacons for service to the Church and the world, and the on-going formation of his brother deacons. He also blogs at scottdodge.blogspot.com.
George Pence is a writer, photographer and resident of Salt Lake City. Most of his life has been spent outside of Utah in places as various Chicago, the Sierras and the piedmont of North Carolina. He is a Catholic convert who came to the faith as a college student at the University of Utah. In 2008, forty years after his conversion, he returned to Utah and again became a member of the Newman community at the University of Utah. There he has served on the Parish Pastoral Council and co-teaches a third grade Sunday school class. He is married to Glenda Fredrickson and they have six children.