The Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl
Bishop of Pittsburgh

Bishop Donald W. Wuerl was installed as the 11th bishop of Pittsburgh on February 12, 1988, where he is spiritual leader of some 800,000 Catholics in 215 parishes throughout Southwestern Pennsylvania. In addition to his responsibilities as shepherd of the Catholic Church in the six counties that comprise the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Bishop Wuerl is involved in a wide range of community, ecumenical and interfaith activities, joining with civic and business leaders in educational and community-service initiatives. These include the Christian Leaders Fellowship and its many ecumenical enterprises, the Extra Mile Education Foundation which is responsible for a number of inner-city parochial schools, the Urban League of Pittsburgh and the United Way of Allegheny County To many Bishop Wuerl is known from the television program The Teaching of Christ broadcast on CBS, the Christian Associates cable channel, and through its national syndication. His best-selling adult catechism of the same name, now in its 27th year of publication, has been translated into more than 10 languages and is used throughout the world. His most recent publication, The Catholic Way, was published by Doubleday in September 2001.

Bishop Wuerl serves on numerous national and international bodies, is chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops editorial oversight board for the National Adult Catechism, USCCB Committee on Catechesis and past chair of the conference's Committee on Education. He is active on a number of boards including The Catholic University of America and the North American College in Rome. He is chairman of the board of The National Catholic Bioethics Center and the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center Intercultural Forum. He has a unique relationship to Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, as Distinguished Service Professor.

During the course of his 15 years as Bishop of Pittsburgh, he has been honored by numerous organizations, most recently by the National Conference of Christians and Jews, the American Red Cross and B'nai Zion. He also received the prestigious Elizabeth Ann Seton award from the National Catholic Education Association for his ongoing work as a teacher and educator. The bishop was born in Pittsburgh on November 12, 1940, and received graduate degrees from The Catholic University of America, the Gregorian University in Rome and his doctorate in theology from the University of St. Thomas in Rome in 1974. He was ordained to the priesthood on December 17, 1966, and ordained a bishop on January 6, 1986, in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.

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