Truth in Advertising - The Association of Pittsburgh Priests

There has been quite a bit of discussion up here in the Pittsburgh area and elsewhere about the news report regarding the request of the Association of Pittsburgh Priests request that the Bishop of Pittsburgh request that the Vatican discuss the ordination of women and married priests.

What is not said in the report is that the Association of Pittsburgh Priests is not indeed a truly accurate description if one assumes that this is somehow an official organization including membership every priest in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Here is their own description of themselves:

The Pittsburgh group may be unique among groups that belong to the national federation because about a third of its members are resigned priests, their wives and lay Catholics -- most of them liberal in outlook and active in church renewal issues, Oesterle said. Its membership represents about 10 percent of the approximately 500 diocesan priests in Pittsburgh. Oesterle called the Association of Pittsburgh Priests more "a Call to Action group" than a traditional priests' council. It intends to continue its links with the Catholic Organizations for Renewal f[sic] a national umbrella group of 33 renewal groups -- and to support the Eastern Pennsylvania Call to Action group in its effort to renew the church and to speak for justice and peace, Oesterle said. [source]

The "Association of Pittsburgh Priests" has been asking for the ordination of women and married men for sometime.