Bishop Signs Final Steel Beam Set Atop New North Catholic High School

The school is the first the Pittsburgh Diocese has built in 45 years.

As he readied to sign his name to a white steel beam at the site of the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School under construction in Cranberry, Bishop David Zubik said he doesn’t see the upcoming decommission of the school’s location in Pittsburgh’s Troy Hill neighborhood as a closure. Instead, he views it as giving birth to the new school. “It’s really a dream come true,” he said. Inviting construction workers to join him, Zubik was the first to sign his name on the ceremonial beam, which was then hoisted onto the school’s steel structure Friday as part of a “topping out” ceremony. Crowned with a broom to represent a “clean sweep” with no construction accidents, as well as a potted tree to symbolize “topping out,” the beam was the …

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Bishop Zubik Blesses New Home for North Catholic at Groundbreaking

A ceremony was held Saturday at the site for the new school.

As he stood before the crowd gathered for the groundbreaking at the site of what will be the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry, Bishop David Zubik spoke of his own catholic school days. It was the first day of his junior year and Sister Malcolm, a new teacher with the school, furiously wrote on a tablet, ignoring the boisterous students who greeted each other after a summer apart. When the classroom finally quieted, Sister Malcolm looked up from her desk. She told the students they were not children when they entered her room. Her goal was to turn them into adult men and woman—and ones who knew Jesus. That goal remains the same today at North Catholic High School. “What Sister Malcolm shared with us on that first …

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Groundbreaking Ceremony for New North Catholic High to be Held Saturday

Bishop David Zubik is expected to attend the event.

A small groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 12:30 p.m. Saturday for the new Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic High School in Cranberry. The proposed 179,000 square-foot private school is slated to be located along Route 228 on 65 acres near the township’s border with Seven Fields. Bishop David Zubik is expected to attend the ceremony along with representatives the Diocese of Pittsburgh and North Catholic High School. The high school, which will accommodate as many as 1,000 students, is the largest building project that the Diocese of Pittsburgh has undertaken in recent history. In 2010, the diocese announced plans to close the school’s building in Pittsburgh's Troy Hill and move programs to Cranberry in response to population growth and …

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Sewickley Priest Takes Leave of Absence During Investigation

The Allegheny County District Attorney's office and the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese are investigating amidst Facebook allegations.

The priest at St. James Church in Sewickley has taken a leave of absence during an ongoing investigation from the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office involving Facebook messages to a minor, according to the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese. Pittsburgh Catholic Bishop David Zubik said in a letter posted on the parish's website that a complaint was recently made against the Rev. Dan Valentine regarding Facebook postings the St. James priest for six years made to a minor.  “As a result of the complaint, I directed my staff to share all information with the office of the District Attorney of Allegheny County,” Zubik wrote in a letter that was read to church parishioners on Sunday. Zubik said the DA’s office informed the diocese that while …

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Around the Rivers

Pittsburgh Bishop Zubik: 'To Hell' With New Contraception Rules

The Obama administration is requiring church-affiliated employers to provide health care plans that cover access to contraception.

Pittsburgh Catholic Bishop David Zubik Friday joined a growing segment of religious leaders speaking out against the Obama administration’s new law that requires religious employers to offer health plans covering free contraceptives. In an open letter titled "To Hell With You," Zubik on Friday characterized some of the mandates in the administration’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act as a "slap in the face" and an attack on religious freedom. Zubik specifcally refers to guidelines that require all individual and group health insurance plans, including self-insured plans, to cover FDA-approved contraception, sterilization procedures and pharmaceuticals "that even result in abortion,"  Zubik writes. "The Obama administration has …

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Larissa Dudkiewicz

9:45 am on Monday, January 30, 2012

Thank you Becky!   more ›