Bishops join in prayer over Mt. Washington during an Easter blessing.
Those pictured are Archbishop Basil M. Schott, Metropolitan Archdiocese of Pittsburgh, Byzantine Catholic Church, The Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (Anglican), and The Rev. Bishop Thomas Bickerton, Western Pennsylvania Conference, United Methodist Church.
Our Mission:
To Serve as a Unifying Voice in the
Name of Jesus Christ
for the Mission of the Gospel
and the Wholeness of Communities
We represent:
- 1,000,000 Christians
-
2,000 Congregations
-
26 Judicatories
- In 10 Counties
Our HISTORY
Christian Associates of Southwest Pennsylvania
continues a long and rich ecumenical history which
began in 1817 with the formation of the Pittsburgh Sabbath School Union. After considerable prayer, research and study, Christian
Associates was founded in 1970. Eleven judicatories voted to become members of
the new ecumenical agency.
At that time, it was the
first metropolitan ecumenical
agency in the U.S.
to include Roman Catholic participation.
Christian Associates was a pioneer in ecumenical togetherness. Rev. Ladis Cizik,
priest with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, wrote about its formation:
“Drawn by the power of the Holy Spirit to Pittsburgh, at the call
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Rev. Dr. W. Lee Hicks and Bishop John J. Wright, later Cardinal, were led to become ecumenical heroes and master builders of ecumenism in every sense of the word.”
When Dr. Hicks approached Bishop Wright, Bishop Wright’s reply was,
Christian Associates was a successor to the Council of Churches. But it was
broader and had far greater impact. The Second Vatican Council ended in 1965.
But if you
are asking me to study a new ecumenical thrust
which might include Catholics, I
am very interested.”
It paved the way for Christian Associates in 1970. As they sought to serve Jesus
Christ, leaders of the Protestant and Roman Catholic churches in the Pittsburgh
region sensed that the time had come for something new, challenging and different.
Dr. William Ruschhaupt of the Pittsburgh Presbytery said, “It is my firm conviction
that the hand of God through the person of the Holy Spirit was upon the
whole process and those who were taking part.”
The HISTORY of CHRISTIANITY
in Southwest Pennsylvania
The first settlers from the English colonies
were Anglicans who set up trading posts along
the Ohio River, which the Native Americans so named because it was "the beautiful river".
When the French built their first Catholic Chapel
at Fort Duquesne, they called it the chapel of
the "Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
on the Beautiful River."
On November 26, 1758, The Book of Common Prayer (of the Church of England) was first used
in Pittsburgh for a Thanksgiving worship service led by a Presbyterian pastor.
On that same day, General John Forbes wrote Prime Minister William Pitt to inform him that both the Fort and the settlement surrounding it would
be named for Prime Minister Pitt.
Both the City and the Episcopal (Anglican)
Diocese date themselves from that day.
Two hundred fifty years later, Bishop David Zubik, bishop of the Pittsburgh Roman Catholic Diocese, shares his views on our region's faith history:
"It is impossible to understand the culture
of Pittsburgh without understanding its
religious history. There is no part of society
in Pittsburgh that has not been created
or strongly influenced by faith.
Pittsburgh is a town of faith that lives by faith. Pittsburgh knows faith, having lived through
times of feast, and most assuredly
having survived times of famine."