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For Monsignor Terence Moore, caring for others wasn’t something nice to do — it was a way of life.
The Ireland native was 24 when he became a man of the cloth. Fresh faced and eager for a challenge, he was intrigued when an Ogden priest gave a lively recruitment speech, assuring the young audience members they would never work harder than in the Beehive State far across the sea. Moore was hooked, and, except for more schooling, he never left Utah.
In the decades that followed, he would serve as the pastor of St. Thomas More Parish in Cottonwood Heights and as the founding pastor of St. John the Baptist Parish in Draper before retiring in 2013. He died Dec. 19 at age 80.
His career among the Catholics — and Latter-day Saints — of Utah was all he could hope for, he told The Salt Lake Tribune in 2013, but it was never guaranteed.
“Some priests say, ‘I became a priest and never looked back,’” the beloved faith leader said. “I’m not one of those. I’ve had questions about whether this was the right vocation for me.”
What saved him for the priesthood was the chance to work with some of the state’s most vulnerable residents.
“If I had issues with the institutional church,” he said, “I had my social services role that kept me focused.”
Kind, giving and generous
Indeed, Moore, who obtained a master’s degree and a doctorate in social work, threw himself into ministering to immigrants, refugees and youths.
Gigi Thorsen, a Sandy resident, grew emotional when she recalled the service he offered when tragedy tore through her family.
The mother was a brand-new convert in 1996, when her eldest daughter was diagnosed with cancer. Within weeks, the girl died.
Moore, Thorsen said, immediately went to work learning everything he could about her daughter, including talking to her peers in Sunday school, so as to offer the best eulogy he could on behalf of the grieving mother, who couldn’t bear the thought of offering her own.
“He was just so kind and so giving and so generous,” she said, “standing up there and talking to all these people about this 7-year-old he didn’t know very well. But he knew me, and I was so touched that he would take it on.”
Living the ‘two great commandments’
(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Monsignor Terence Moore plays with his dog Bailey on a walk in 2013. Moore died Dec. 19, 2023.
Kaye Rachele-Flanery, too, teared up as she reflected on her priest’s life.
“Love of God and love of neighbor,” the former schoolteacher and Cottonwood Heights resident said, “the two great commandments — that’s what he embodied.”
Then, emphasizing each word, she added: “He. was. good.”
A reception for Moore will be held Jan. 8 from 5 to 7 p.m. at Draper’s St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, with the recitation of the holy rosary at 6:30 p.m. Vigil Mass will begin at 7.
A funeral Mass will take place the following day at 11 a.m. at downtown Salt Lake City’s Cathedral of the Madeleine, with Bishop Oscar A. Solis, leader of Utah’s 300,000-plus Catholics, presiding.
