While you are there, you may want to check out St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cathedral for me. It has weekend Divine Liturgy at 5 pm on Saturday and 9 am on Sunday. It is located in Munhall.

Plus the RC Cathedral is gorgeous.

If the pews of the Pittsburgh Cathedral ever go missing, don't look wherever I'm working. They weren't stolen and installed there.

Pews? Is outrage!

All the Pittsburgh Byzantine churches I have seen have pews (and kneelers.) They just don't see much sitting. Of course, the local Archeparchy is Ukrainian, so perhaps 19th-century Russia is outrage in the 'Burgh.

It's interesting from place to place how the "pew" thing works out. The Pittsburgh church, to which I belong, has pews in our local temple. The local Ukrainian Catholic church does not. Many regard pews as latinizations, but I think the Protestants were more responsible for pews. Where they exist in eastern churches is sometimes the result of having bought Protestant buildings and keeping the pews that were already there.

The Pittsburgh Episcopal diocese has had some significant upheaval in the past 10 years, effectively splitting the jurisdiction in half (in terms of clergy, parishioners, and buildings), which I suspect has taken its toll on parish music programs, among others.

"The Pittsburgh diocese is closing in on the parishioner-input phase of a comprehensive planning initiative called “On Mission for the Church Alive!,”

[...]

The number of active Catholics within the Pittsburgh diocese has declined rapidly in recent decades, from 914,000 in 1980 to 632,000 in 2015, diocesan figures show."

That, folks, is called modernism, and I'm not sure a poll will help.

It's modernism, secularism, economic decline, and another factor that gets swept under the rug. Church leadership that embraces every error in the name of compassion, yet stands for little or nothing. I have mentioned before playing for funerals of long-time Catholics. All the children are there, as you would expect. Hardly any receive communion because they have left the church. Many of those now grown kids don't even seem to know what is happening at mass. Big problems, and I don't see any leaders in the wings who have a clue as to how to reverse this. So yeah, spend money on another survey, get together a focus group, hire a facilitator, and watch as the whole thing goes to hell.

Agreed, Liam. It does amaze me, however, that many of our leaders think they are supposed to be entertainers and the sanctuary is a stage - most of them would starve if they had to do comedy for a living. Some think they are supposed to embrace the latest warm and fuzzy social science theories that come down the road. And to be fair, the more competent social scientists don't promote nonsense. I don't even want to get into the rampant political correctness. What is missing is something the priests realized two thousand years ago. They are supposed to preach the unvarnished Gospel of Jesus Christ. It works, it is old but ever new, and the need for it is greater than ever.

Yes, contemporary sins are not contemporary. They have always been present. The Gospel is more than moralism. Unfortunately, social justice has been hijacked by those who are neither social nor just. Following Biblical teachings means caring and providing for those in need and protecting the weakest in society. It doesn't, however, mean pandering to them. It also means proclaiming the truth to both weak and strong, wealthy and poor.

This much I do know. I like Pittsburgh and think the people are great. Very down-to-earth and friendly. At least, that's my experience.

I've decided to check out St. John Chrysostom Byzantine Catholic Church.

This was Andy Warhol's childhood parish.