About Us

Empowering Catholics of Pittsburgh

We are Empowering Catholics of Pittsburgh (ECOP), a grassroots group of devout but disheartened local Catholics committed to healing the Church of Pittsburgh. Our mission is to empower the laity and clergy on the front lines of ministry in the Diocese of Pittsburgh to strengthen and grow the Church of Pittsburgh. Founded by lifelong local Catholics Sandra Lannis and Margaret McLean, ECOP believes that the best way for us to advance our mission is for priests, deacons and laity to work together, as one united body.

Survey of Diocesan Clergy, Spring 2019

One of our first initiatives is to address the lack of accountability of diocesan leadership to those whom these leaders serve, namely, the members of the Church of Pittsburgh. We began this process by conducting an open, fair and independent survey of priests and deacons of the diocese. In early April 2019, we mailed to the clergy of the Diocese of Pittsburgh a survey regarding the current state of the diocese and what changes need to be made to strengthen and revitalize the Church of Pittsburgh. That survey addressed the following subjects related to the Diocese of Pittsburgh and Bishop David Zubik and his diocesan staff:

• Current state of the Diocese of Pittsburgh
• On Mission for the Church Alive reorganization
• Handling of allegations of child sex abuse
• Challenges at St. Paul Seminary and in the priesthood
• Overall evaluation of Bishop Zubik and his curia
• The diocese moving forward

A total of 297 surveys were mailed to diocesan clergy⎯209 to diocesan priests and 88 to diocesan deacons. At the request of some clergy members, we added an online option for submitting responses to the survey. Responses were submitted on a strictly ANONYMOUS and CONFIDENTIAL basis throughout April and May 2019. The rate of response was 13% with 72% submitting paper responses and 28% submitting online responses.

Posted on this website are copies of the letter and survey that went out to the clergy of Pittsburgh and a report of the results of the survey, including verbatim written responses. No editing was done on the written responses except for those portions which, by their content, could have revealed a respondent’s identity.

If you have questions regarding the survey results, please contact us.