Pittsburgh Catholic Newspaper - News and Features

News & Features

Women in leadership
archived from: 2006-07-14
by: John Franko

First of a two-part series.

The role of women in positions of leadership in the church has grown dramatically in the past two decades.

In the Diocese of Pittsburgh, there are women at every level of diocesan leadership, including the role of associate general secretary/chancellor, which has been held by Dr. Arlene McGannon since 2004.

“From my perspective, I believe that the Diocese of Pittsburgh compares equally well with most other dioceses, and possibly better than many in this regard,” said Aux. Bishop Paul Bradley, diocesan administrator, general secretary and vicar general.

“Part of the reason for this is because when Bishop (Donald) Wuerl was the diocesan bishop, it was a true priority for him, and part of his very purposeful approach to leadership roles within the diocese that we would be well-represented and inclusive in every way and at every level of ministry within the church.”

In his own role as pastor and diocesan official, Bishop Bradley has tapped women for leadership positions, and his experiences have been very positive.

He said the most critical factor is not whether a person is a man or woman, but how well-prepared they are for their role, and their desire to serve the church.

Bishop Bradley noted, however, that women do have distinctive gifts they can offer in their leadership roles, which by their nature are different from men.

“The great joy of being a pastor of a parish, or an administrator of a diocese, is to see how those special gifts of women can complement so beautifully the special gifts of men, and how the church benefits so well from the gifts of both,” he said.

• In her role as associate general secretary, McGannon assists Bishop Bradley in the day-to-day operations of the diocese.

As chancellor, she is responsible for maintaining, safeguarding and permitting access to the ordinary archives of the diocese.

Previously, McGannon had ministered in the fields of education, health care chaplaincy and aging services for more than 20 years. Included in that time were 15 years in nonprofit management and program development.

She had worked for the diocese as director of the Ministry for Aging, and directed the We Are Remembered Ministry. She was also program director at the Franciscan Center in Tampa, Fla.

McGannon has published numerous articles and has addressed local, national and international conferences on spirituality and aging.

A graduate of Duquesne University, she holds a master’s degree in pastoral ministry from the University of Dayton and a doctorate in ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation in Donaldson, Ind.

• As director of the Department for Black Catholics, Ethnic and Cultural Communities, Greta Stokes Tucker directs the Office for Black Catholic Ministries and the Office for Ethnic Ministries with the Korean, Latino and Vietnamese Catholic communities. She also provides support to African Catholic immigrants and refugees.

An associate of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Baden, she serves on several local and national boards: The Crossroads Foundation, National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education and The Sister Thea Bowman Black Catholic Educational Foundation.

She is also on the Diocesan National Black Catholic Congress Leadership Team and the National Association of Black Catholic Administrators.

Tucker has lived and studied in Israel. She has been a participant in the Catholic Institute for Holocaust Studies, sponsored by the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Studies at Seton Hill University in Greensburg.

Prior to working for the diocese, Tucker served as director of religious education at St. Benedict the Moor in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.

She is a graduate of Seton Hill and earned a master’s degree in religious education from Duquesne University, where she is currently working on her doctoral dissertation in theology.

Tucker has also studied at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies at Xavier University in New Orleans and the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

• Sister of Charity Mary Jo Mutschler was named diocesan assistant superintendent for elementary schools in September 1997.

Prior to that, she served as vice president for mission and ministry development for the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill in Greensburg.

She also served as the first director of the Greco Institute in Lafayette, La., which offered educational and spiritual curricula designed for Catholic ministers.

Sister Mary Jo is a graduate of Seton Hill University and earned a master’s degree in administration from Duquesne University. She holds a doctorate in non-public school administration and church leadership from Fordham University in New York.

She has been a faculty member at Fordham and Loyola University in New Orleans.

She has also held a wide variety of educational positions in schools and parishes throughout the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and is a former director of mathematics in the Department for Catholic Schools.

• Joyce Gillooly, director of the Department for Youth and Young Adult Ministry, began her diocesan ministry in 1989, when she was named director of the Office for Youth and Young Adult Ministry.

Following Diocesan Synod recommendations in 2002, the status of the office was changed to a department and the oversight of college campus ministry was added.

Gillooly has been charged with being a resource and support to parish youth and young adult programs. Working with a staff of professionals and priest chaplains, she has guided a ministry that has included supervision, planning, teaching collaboration and the attendance of six World Youth Days.

In December, she will receive a national award for diocesan director of youth ministry from the National Foundation for Catholic Youth Ministry.

Gillooly has worked as parish director of religious education, a high school religion teacher, a parish youth minister and as a teacher in the Churchill Area School District.

She has also served as an adjunct faculty member in youth ministry at La Roche College, Duquesne University and Franciscan University of Steubenville.

A graduate of Carlow University, Gillooly holds a counseling certificate from the University of Southern Illinois and a master’s degree from Duquesne University.

• Sister of Charity Brigid Marie Grandey has served as assistant superintendent for secondary schools since July 2005. Prior to that, she had been interim superintendent during the past school year after serving as educational consultant for secondary schools for three years.

Sister Brigid has been involved in Catholic education for more than 25 years, as a principal at Greensburg Central Catholic High School, and with assignments at Seton-LaSalle High School, the former Sacred Heart and Bishop Boyle high schools and Bishop Canevin High School.

She is a graduate of Seton Hill University and holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Arizona, master’s in theology from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., and a master’s in secondary education administration from Duquesne University.

• Since 1999, Judy Kirk has served as diocesan director for religious education, where she oversees all parish/deanery religious education programs, the implementation of all diocesan principles, policies and guidelines for religious education, and the use of curriculum guidelines and textbooks.

She also oversees the implementation of programs, including marriage preparation, natural family planning, adult faith formation, catechist certification, hiring of catechetical administrators and Catholic high school catechists, implementation of the Religious Education Institute at Duquesne University, and visits to parishes and deaneries.

Kirk has worked in religious education for some 30 years. She is a former high school youth minister and director of religious education at her home parish of St. Basil in Pittsburgh’s Carrick neighborhood and at St. Bartholomew in Penn Hills.

She is a graduate of Duquesne University, where she also received a master’s in theology/religious education.

• In her work as diocesan director for catechetical ministries, Sharon Tyborowski Hachman works with catechetical administrators, master catechists and parish catechists throughout the diocese.

Her responsibilities include publication of annual courses through the diocesan Web site and semiannual course ads in the Pittsburgh Catholic. She recruits and works with master catechists for the more than 90 courses.

Hachman works with catechetical administrators and pastors regarding hiring practices and is a liaison to the 32 associate deanery directors and priest deanery directors.

She serves as an instructor for the Catechesis for Adults course in the Religious Education Institute at Duquesne and she heads the selection committee for the Father Farina Scholarship Fund, which aids parish program managers.

Hachman has been involved in multiple aspects of religious education for almost 30 years. She has worked as coordinator and director of religious education in parishes in the dioceses of Greensburg and Pittsburgh, and as director for catechesis in the Pittsburgh Diocese.

Prior to her present position, she served as a catechist and religion department chairwoman at St. Joseph High School in Natrona Heights.

Hachman is a graduate of St. Francis College in Loretto and has a master’s in religious education from Duquesne.

• As a judge in the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court Family Division, Patricia McCullough handled matters that concerned neglect, abuse and drug and alcohol rehabilitation for families and children.

She also worked with children in need of placement and other court intervention.

It prepared McCullough for her role as executive director of Catholic Charities in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, a position she assumed in March.

Prior to being named a judge, McCullough served as an attorney for more than 20 years.

She is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and was an international law and human rights student at the University of Strasbourg in France.

She received her juris doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh in 1981.

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