Memory of a Priest Swap

Deacon Greg today posted a clip of a Pittsburgh Catholic report on "pulpit sharing” or “priest swap" -- when priests from neighboring parishes exchange pulpits for a Sunday morning.

This isn't a totally new thing in the 'burgh.

One Sunday morning, when I was a kid growing up at St. Alphonsus Church in McDonald, PA, our pastor, Fr. Gentile, swapped pulpits with "Father Ed," a youngish priest from Our Lady of Lourdes Church in nearby Burgettstown, PA.

It just so happens that, last Thursday, that one-time parochial vicar from Burgettstown was installed as the Catholic bishop of Juneau, Alaska.