The Serra movement came to Pittsburgh via Seattle and Milwaukee. At the end of the 1930’s, there were only seven Serra Clubs in existence. The Pittsburgh club got underway in 1943 and received Charter #20, which means that among the 623 Serra clubs in the world, the Pittsburgh club is a kind of patriarch.
Frank Bruce, who headed the Bruce Publishing Company in Milwaukee, had become a Serran. Joe Breig, a Pittsburgh newspaper columnist who used to review Frank’s books, was a friend. So Frank reached out for Joe’s help to gather a few men with whom he might meet and explain the workings of Serra. Joe rounded up 8 men, including Art Rooney and Leo Vogel, and on June 29, 1943, they met with Frank Bruce in the old Fort Pitt Hotel.
In the months that followed, they interested others to join with them. But it took a year and a half to get some stability and meet the requirements for a Serra Charter, which was awarded on February 9, 1945.
Over the years, the Pittsburgh Club has developed a long parade of luncheon programs which have beem brilliant, incisive, informative, challenging, and stimulating.
Reaching out to keep the vocation objective visible and beckoning, Serra has developed projects geared to the curiosity and inquisitiveness of students from grade school to university. Serra has launced other programs to enlist adults in supoprt of potential vocations. Serra has worked also to provide financial and other aid to seminarians. By still other means, Serra has endeavored to express its admiration and its gratitude to priests and religious, young and old. Since the establishment of the Diocesan Vocations Office in 1948, Pittsburgh Serra has responded to multiple requests for assistance with the implementation of its programs.
We invite you to become a part of the Serra Club of Pittsburgh today and a piece of its history tomorrow.