As grand jury report looms, diocese postpones anniversary celebration

By Peter Smith
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
June 30, 2018

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Facing a grand jury investigation and its biggest internal reorganization in a generation, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh has indefinitely postponed its 175th anniversary celebration.

Bishop David Zubik had invited a papal representative to celebrate a July 29 Mass at St. Paul Cathedral in Oakland to commemorate the 1843 creation of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

But a massive report by a statewide investigative grand jury is awaiting release. It remains sealed pending challenges before the state Supreme Court from individuals criticized in the report who are seeking to block its publication. The report looks into seven decades of allegations of sexual abuse and cover-up in Pittsburgh’s and five other Pennsylvania dioceses.

At the same time, reorganization efforts are in full swing across the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Under the program On Mission for the Church Alive, unveiled by Bishop Zubik in April after years of planning, parishes across the diocese are forming groups that will eventually result in merged parishes. New Mass times begin in October, when many priests will take on new assignments.

“Given all of the activity surrounding the implementation of On Mission, as well as the anticipated public release of the grand jury report, I think that it is prudent for us to postpone our celebration until a later date,” Bishop Zubik wrote in a June 29 letter to priests and deacons. “At the same time, we continue to pray in gratitude for the blessing of the Church of Pittsburgh as we build on the accomplishments of our ancestors in the faith.”

Created in August 1843 by Pope Gregory XVI, the diocese currently consists of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington counties and has an estimated Catholic population of 630,000.