Dear Paul, Melanie, Rob, Roice, and Ben,
cc: file, Diane Cluff, Darrell and Nancy Krueger, Sara and Des Penny, Grandma Hafen via Tony Hafen, and Lloyd and Luana Warner.
Welcome to "Thoughtlets." This is a weekly review of an idea, belief,
thought, or words that will hopefully be of some benefit to you, my
children, with an electronic copy to on-line extended family members.
Any of you can ask me not to clutter your mail box at any time.
"A few weeks ago I mentioned to Grandma Hafen, during my weekly Sunday
evening phone call to her, I had been at the joint Catholic-L.D.S. Choir
practice for our 4th annual performance. This year (tonight) we sang at
the Epiphany Catholic Community Church. When I mentioned this to Grandma
she got very excited. It reminded her of something she had been told
about which happened in Southern Utah back in 1879. Her step-grandfather,
John Macfarlane, had arranged for his choir to sing mass for the Silver
Reef Catholic community in the St George Tabernacle. The Tabernacle is
the spire in back of the St. George Temple in the painting Ken Turner
did for me of the Savior coming to St. George. The tabernacle was the
center of activity all of the time my Grandma Hafen and your Grandma Nelson
were growing up in St. George. Grandma Hafen was so excited she couldn't
sleep. She looked up some information about what happened and called me
the next night to read it to me. Then she talked to a friend and had her
do some research on the event, and my sister Sara sent me copies of the
resulting material. With the hope of interesting each of you in history,
I have typed out the three versions Grandma Hafen provided, plus one
written by my friend`s, Randy Shirt's, father:
`Relations with the gentiles at Silver Reef were cautious. One well-
known exception was a friendship that developed between John Menzies
Macfarlane of St. George and Reverend Lawrence Scanlan, the Catholic
priest in Silver Reef. Macfarlane was a surveyor (also a musician and
a judge) and was often employed in Silver Reef. He lived at the same
boarding house as the Catholic priest. The two conversed at length and
became respectful of each other. In one conversation they discovered
a mutual problem. Father Scanlan wanted to celebrate high mass with a
choir for his congregation. His church, St. John's, was unfinished
and he had no choir for his congregation. Macfarlane proposed that
the mass be held in the St. George LDS Tabernacle where he was the
choir director of a thirty-voice ensemble. Scanlan was hesitant.
Macfarlane explored the idea and won over Erastus Snow and the stake
president John D. T. McAllister. Arrangements were agreed upon. The
choir took two weeks to learn the mass in Latin from a piece of music
provided by the priest.
On 25 May 1870 the memorable event occurred. Many Catholics traveled
to St. George for the service, but at least as many in the congregation
were curious Mormons. Father Scanlan is reported to have started by
saying, "I think you are wrong and you think I am wrong, but this
should not prevent us from treating each other with due consideration
and respect.' History of Washington County: Stability and Isolation,
pages 115-116.
From "I was Called to Dixie" by A. Karl Larson:
`John M. Macfarlane's choir was present on January 1, 1877 when a portion
of the Temple was dedicated. After Wilford Woodruff's dedicatory prayer
the choir sang a hymn especially composed for the occasion by Charles L.
Walker. Later we see Macfarlane's choir assisting at the Sunday School
Jubilee for 1877.
Members of the choir remember all their lives the occasion when they sang
the music for Catholic High Mass in the Tabernacle on September 25, 1879,
and so did those who sat in the Tabernacle on that occasion. When Silver
Reef mines had their heyday, beginning during the last half of the
Eighteen-Seventies, there came to the booming mining camp Father Lawrence
Scanlan, scholarly Catholic priest, to look after the spiritual welfare of
the many miners of that faith. In spite of the antagonism that flourished
between the Mormon and Catholic faiths, Father Scanlan, by his honesty
and friendliness, won the confidence and respect of the Mormon people in
Dixie. John M. Macfarlane had become acquainted with Father Scanlan and
on one occasion asked him why he didn't hold a high mass in this part of
the country. The Catholic Father said he would be glad to if he had an
adequate place to conduct it. Macfarlane mentioned the conversation to
President Erastus Snow, who invited Father Scanlan to use the new
Tabernacle for the purpose. He accepted and asked that the St. George
Choir furnish the music for the Mass, the words of which were, of course,
in Latin. None of the choir members knew Latin, but the music was
something they could manage without difficulty. They memorized the Latin
text, practicing every night for six weeks to get it to the point where
they could sing it with confidence. Father Scanlan was highly satisfied
with the choir's performance and stated that it was done as well as he
had ever heard it. The large audience was pleased with the versatility of
their choir. (This information was taken from Reed Paul Thompson).
The following is from the book, "A Saga of Three Town" by Maretta Mariger.
Some of this information is quoted in "I Was Called to Dixie" and she has
been given credit for it.
`Father Scanlan was at a large church in Salt Lake and his friend suggested
he come to Silver Reef. He was staying with a friend in Pioche. He rode
from Beaver to Silver Reef on a horse. In 1873, he built a rustic frame
church that he dedicated to the apostle Saint John. Later he built a
frame hospital with a stone foundation in 1879 and urged five Catholic
nuns to come from the Holy Cross hospital. In addition to their work of
mercy, they conducted a school which a number of Mormon children attended
and gave music lessons to anyone inclined to take advantage of this service.
Some school children were: Dave, Cassie, and Kate Forsha. Nora Gleason was
sent for to play the organ. There is a plaque on the wall for her services
in a church in Salt Lake. The Father had her go to Salt Lake when he left
Silver Reef.
The sisters lived in the basement of the hospital and were paid by the
miners. Each miner paid $1.00 a month this amounted to $200.00 a month.
Later they built an addition to the hospital.'
Remember (or if you didn't know) learn, David, Cassie, and Kate Forsha were
the children of St. Clair Forsha and Sarah Abigail Woolsey, who were Grandma
Hafen's paternal blood grandparents. David Forsha is Grandma Hafen's father.
Grandma Hafen was adopted and raised by the Morris' and Grandma Morris was
one of John M. Macfarlane's daughters. In the book "Silver, Sinners and
Saints - A History of Old Silver Reef, Utah" by Paul Dean Procter and Morris
A. Shirts the following is written (pages 88-90):
`John M. Macfarlane
John M. Macfarlane, 1833-1892, the Washington County surveyor, had become
acquainted with Father Scanlan while completing some of the necessary land
surveys at the Reef, among which were surveys for patent of come claims of
W. T. Barbee. Macfarlane, a former citizen of Cedar City, had been
specially called by the Mormon General Authority, Erastus Snow, to organize
a choir in St. George. Its purpose was to lift the morale of the community,
which was struggling for continuance in the desert land. Macfarlane
reluctantly accepted the call because he dearly loved the people and the
Cedar City area. He became a resident of St. George but boarded in Mrs.
Grave's boarding house in Silver Reef during his work sessions in the
mining district. Boarding in the same house was Father Scanlan. Macfarlane
and Father Scanlan spent many pleasent hours together discussing music,
religion, and their ancestries in Ireland and Scotland, respectively.
During one of these discussions Macfarlane learned of Scanlan's desire to
hold a High Mass for the Silver Reef Catholics, and of the difficulties
entailed in conducting one. Scanlan mentioned the lack of a completed
building, his inability to supply the needed music and other problems.
Macfarlane was a man of many interests and talents. He pointed out to
Father Scanlan that the choir was no problem for the High Mass, for he
could easily supply that. The big problem was finding the music, and a
suitable place to sing it. Why not, he suggested, hold the High Mass in
the beautiful new St. George Tabernacle? This was an unusual thought for
there were major theological differences, a strong cleavage between the
two groups and certainly no precedent for such a thing. At first Father
Scanlan refused, then later reluctantly agreed that Macfarlane should
pursue such a course.
The Mormon Choir - Catholic High Mass
Macfarlane's proposal to the brethern in St. George was first refused,
but he finally gained the approval of Apostle Snow and Stake President
J. D. T. McCallister, who issued a cordial invitation to Father Scanlan
and his Catholic group. Father Scanlan accepted. In two weeks, the
30-member Mormon choir, under the direction of Macfarlane and with the
help of Father Scanlan, learned from a single copy the music and Latin
lyrics for St. Peter's Mass in D. On May 25th, 1879, Father Scanlan and
his congregation traveled the twenty miles to St. George. His small
group was far outnumbered by curious and respectful Mormons. The
congregation, estimated at 3000, sat quietly as Father Scanlan explained
the meaning of the vestments used at mass, and details of the High Mass
so all could better understand and appreciate it. He also preached an
eloquent two-hour sermon on: "True Adorers of God Shall Adore Him in
Spirit and Truth." Careful to not offend, his opening remarks were:
"I think you are wrong and you think I am wrong, but this should not
prevent us from treating each other with due consideration and respect."
This is probably the only time that a High Catholic Mass has ever been
celebrated in a Mormon tabernacle with a mixed crowd of Catholics and
Mormons and with music and lyrics provided by a Mormon choir. The two-
week's practice by the choir resulted in a successful Latin presentation
of Kyrie-Eleison, and Gloria and Credo, to the great satisfaction of the
Catholic members of the congregation. Stucki, the historian, points out
that the sacred occasion was a "fine experience for the people of St.
George who had been isolated for many years from contact with other
religions.
John Menzies Macfarlane, surveyor, attorney-at-law, and choir leader, was
also a composer. One cold night in St. George he awakened from sleep with
a melody in his mind and could not sleep because of it. Although his wife
suggested he come back to bed and work with the melody in the morning,
Macfarlane said: "No, if I wait I shall forget it". She then arose, and
held a kerosene lamp beside him, so John could work out the music on their
old pump organ. Together they worked through the night, and by dawn the
lovely melody and accompanying words had been committed to paper. The
song and the words he wrote became one of the great Christmas hymns of
the world, Far, far away on Judea's Plain. He also wrote a favorite hymn
entitled: Dearest Children, God is Near You.'
I have sung in the joint Epiphany Catholic Community - Katy Stake Choir each
of the four year years we have performed. Tonight we had 25 sopranos,
18 altos, 13 tenors, 15 bases, 4 violins, 2 violas, 2 chellos, 2 flutes,
2 oboes, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 1 french horn, 1 piano, 1 organ,
6 handbells, and a 41 child children's choir. The music really was very
nice. Father Jack M. Dinkins welcomed everyone to the Epiphany Catholic
Community Church. President Jones gave the invocation. The above groups
(with the congregation on two Christmas Carols) performed the following:
- Advent Bell Carol
- Processional For Christmas
- O Magnum Mysterium (in Latin)
- Recitatives and Gloria from The Messiah
- Shepherd's Pipe Carol
- Hark The Herald Angels Sing
- How Far Is It To Bethlehem
- Sound The Trumpets And Ring The Bells
- For Unto Us A Child Is Born
- The Three Kings
- Joy To The World
- Praise To The Lord
It was sad to me there was no one from my family there to enjoy it, for the
second year in a row. Marie Williams, Larry Law, and Mike Smith were there.
Marie is Melanie's bud, and Larry and Mike have been dedicated attendees at
our Monday night Family Home Evening for the last three weeks. In my paronia
and fears I have often thought of the Savior's words in Mathew 10:37-39:
`He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he
that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he
that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for
my sake shall find it.'
Attendance by family members at a celebration of the birth of our Savior
has become a symbol to me. A symbol of whether I am willing to stand fast
with my faith even if `father or mother,' `son or daughter' choose to take a
different path. I can and I will, for when it comes right down to it, the
willingness to stand by my testimony, even if it means to stand alone, is
simply the reverse of the Savior's response to Peter when Peter said
`We have left all, and have followed thee' (Mark 10:28-31). Our ancestors
chose to leave their families because of their testimonies and commitment to
the restored gospel. In the last days, it is reasonable to expect some in
families to follow different paths:
`For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect.' (Matthew 24:24)
I hope and pray my concerns are simply my paranoia and fears. I also hope
that as you read these Thoughtlets, even if it is years in the future, you
will consider the things your ancestors enjoyed, and recognize you might
also find joy there. I have found there is joy and lasting memories in
doing things like singing in a good choir."
I'm interested in sharing weekly a "thoughtlet" (little statements of big thoughts which mean a lot to me) with you because I know how important the written word can be. I am concerned about how easy it is to drift and forget our roots and our potential among all of distractions of daily life. If you ever want to download any of these thoughtlets, they are posted at http://www.walden3d.com/hrnmen or you can e-mail me at rnelson@walden3d.com.
With all my love,
Dad
(H. Roice Nelson, Jr.)