Father Tom Kunz is associate general secretary and vicar for canonical services for the Diocese of Pittsburgh. He also has served as chaplain of Legatus’ Pittsburgh Chapter since 2019. He grew up in the Point Breeze neighborhood of Pittsburgh, the sixth of seven children in an observant Catholic home. His father was an attorney who was once a seminarian, and his mother was a stay-at-home mom.
Father Kunz attended Catholic schools and graduated from Loyola College in Baltimore. He worked as an information technology consultant in various cities, including New York and Chicago, and traveled extensively, but finally opted for the seminary. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Pittsburgh in 2004. He served in parish ministry before assuming his current role in the chancery. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, golf, and gardening.
The Pittsburgh diocese has 170 active priests (as well as retired priests) who serve some 600,000 Catholics.
What influenced you to seek the priesthood?
The Holy Spirit did! I had had many talks with my father about priorities in life. He said to put God first, then country and family.
I thought about my priorities in life while in college. I thought, “How can I put God first in my life?” That is how the thought of the seminary came to me. My parents were very happy with that decision.
Also, while growing up, we regularly had priests around. Cardinal Adam Maida, now the retired archbishop of Detroit, in fact, was a friend of the family. He baptized me as a child and preached at my first Mass after I was ordained.
You are involved with the reorganization of the Pittsburgh diocese, which at its core is an evangelization effort.
I work in an administrative role at the chancery. We’ve just gone through a major reorganization in the diocese, reducing our number of parishes from 188 to 62.
We’re planning for the future, moving from maintenance of old buildings to mission. We’re trying to get away from worrying about structures, or buildings, and trying to evangelize more. We’re working to make sure that our parishes are effectively trying to reach our people, to bring Jesus’ message of salvation to all.
Such reorganizations are happening in many dioceses throughout the country. Not all the faithful are happy with the reorganization, but they’re coming to understand.
We’re working with the Catholic Leadership Institute, surveying our people, trying to determine where they are in their faith lives. The programs we implement will vary depending upon those results.
We’re doing well with priestly vocations. We have 33 seminarians, which is about the same number we had as when I was in the seminary 25 years ago.
What do you like most about the priesthood? What is its greatest challenge?
I enjoy bringing the Lord to the people. I like helping them to experience the joy of the Holy Spirit and encounter the Lord’s presence in their lives. I like reaching out to people in need and helping them find happiness.
The greatest challenge is that it is difficult to get people to understand that there is more to life than enjoying comfort and luxury, and that it is far more important to pursue a good relationship with the Lord and those around us.
Tell us about Legatus’ Pittsburgh Chapter. What is your core pastoral message when you preach to them?
We have 30 couples who meet on the third Thursday of the month for Confession, Mass, the Rosary, a happy hour, dinner, and a speaker. We’ve enjoyed many wonderful events, including an axe-throwing demonstration!
When I preach to Legatus members, I like to remind them that their job is to bring Christ into the world. It is the vocation of the laity, and they can do it every day in their business endeavors.