Msgr. Rudolph Daz celebrates 54 years as a priest

Intermountain Catholic

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Msgr. Rudolph Daz

BOUNTIFUL — Msgr. Rudolph Daz, pastor of Saint Olaf Parish, Bountiful, is 80 years old. He has been a priest for 54 years.

"I am still able to get out of bed in the morning, stand up, and put my clothes on, so Bishop Wester lets me stay here," said Msgr. Daz. "I am still the pastor of the parish. The reason why it works is because we have very good people in the parish and we have an excellent staff. I oversee things and do the essential things a priest does such as celebrate Mass, preach decently, and when people need a priest, I am there for them.

"When you get old, you find out you need exercise, otherwise you lose your energy," said Msgr. Daz. "So my favorite exercise is swimming. You use all your muscles without the resistance that can harm your joints. I try to follow the three legs on the stool of good health, which are a good diet, exercise, and eight hours of sleep a night. That way I keep in decent shape.

"But it is by the benevolent providence of God that I was accepted into the seminary, finished my studies, and why those professors ever passed me, I don’t know, but they did, and the bishop ordained me. It was the benevolent providence of God that I accomplished all that, and it keeps me going at the present time too. God has been very good to me and I am grateful for all of his gifts.

"My main spirituality is a union with Jesus because he promised that whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit," said Msgr. Daz. "So I keep a close relationship with Jesus and I ask him every day to please show me where he wants me to go, tell me what he wants me to do, and help me to do it.

"I also pray the rosary every day," said Msgr. Daz. "I don’t pray it contemplatively like I could. But I pray it when I am driving, walking, and so on. I pray all 20 decades."

Msgr. Daz first thought about becoming a priest after he received his First Holy Communion in the second. He attended Saint Joseph Catholic Schools from second to 10th grade.

"I really started thinking concretely about becoming a priest in the 10th grade," said Msgr. Daz. "I talked with Sister Agnes Imelda in Ogden and she said I should talk to then Father Mark O. Benvegnu, who told me to talk to my parents. I told my mother, and she hit the ceiling because I was the only boy in an Italian family.

Fr. Benvegnu told Msgr. Daz about Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, Calif., who at the time leased buildings to Navy preflighters and they only had 125 students.

"They sent two Christian Brothers out to recruit students, and they came to Ogden," said Msgr. Daz. "Very wisely Fr. Benvegnu brought them to our home. The proposal was if you had 17 units of credit and were 17 years old, they would accept you as a freshman in college. My parents talked it over and thought allowing me to go would get the idea out off my chest. I went to Saint Mary’s for a year in Moraga. After that, they decided to let me go.

"I then went to Saint Joseph College in Mountain View, Calif., where I met Msgr. Lawrence Sweeney. We were classmates all through college. I came home every summer to work at the railroad and at Hill Air Force Base as a yardsman mowing lawns.

"I entered Saint Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, Calif., where I studied two years of philosophy and four years of theology. Bishop Duane G. Hunt of the Diocese of Salt Lake City, at that time, asked Sweeney and I to come home early.

On Jan. 24, 1954, Bishop Hunt ordained Msgr. Sweeney at his home parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Salt Lake City. I was ordained Jan. 24, 1954, by then Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Lennox Federal in my home parish of Saint Joseph in Ogden. I was the first diocesan priest Bishop Federal ordained."

Msgr. Daz said his first assignment was Saint Marguerite Parish in Tooele, where he stayed two and a half years. He then went to Saint Therese of the Child Jesus Parish, Midvale for four months before going to Saint Ann Parish, Salt Lake City for eight months.

"I then went to Holy Rosary Parish in Bingham for eight months, and then I took Msgr. Francis Pellegrino’s place for six weeks in Roosevelt. When I returned, Bishop Hunt sent me to Saint Patrick Parish in Eureka for six years. From there I went to Saint Patrick Parish in Salt Lake City as the administrator for two years from 1964 to 1966. In 1966, I went to Saint Anthony of Padua in Helper and I was there for 10 years until 1977. I went to Saint Joseph the Worker Parish in West Jordan from 1977 to 1987, before coming to Saint Olaf Parish in 1987. I have been here for 21 years.

"My ministry is basically presence, availability, trust in God; the main things a priest does celebrate Mass, the sacraments, and be present when people need a priest," said Msgr. Daz. "God takes very good care of everything."