SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE MAUREEN LALLY-GREEN TO SERVE AS DIRECTOR OF NEW OFFICE FOR CHURCH RELATIONS

PITTSBURGH – Bishop David A. Zubik has announced that Superior Court Judge Maureen Lally-Green will serve as the director of the new Office for Church Relations in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Judge Lally-Green will retire from the bench effective July 31, 2009, and join the pastoral administration of the Diocese of Pittsburgh in her new position in August.

As director of the new diocesan Office for Church Relations, Judge Lally-Green will represent the Diocese of Pittsburgh to civic, charitable, service and community organizations throughout the region. She will work closely with the development, administration, and communications responsibilities of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

“We have long needed an office in the Diocese of Pittsburgh that could tell the story of the Church of Pittsburgh to the many community organizations, public entities and civic groups in our area,” Bishop Zubik said in making the announcement of Judge Lally-Green’s appointment.

“The Church is involved so deeply in the life of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Judge Lally-Green’s extensive knowledge of the Church, her love and dedicated service to our entire community, and the respect with which she is universally held, make her an outstanding representative of the diocese in this new responsibility,” Bishop Zubik said.

“I am so grateful for her willingness to serve in this vital task of community liaison and as part of our diocesan pastoral administration. Grateful, but not surprised. Judge Lally-Green’s career has been a model of service to her faith and her community.

“Her dynamic leadership, brilliance, compassion and commitment will serve the Church and all of Southwestern Pennsylvania so well. We are the Church Alive! in Pittsburgh and Judge Lally-Green will be central in representing that enthusiasm to our whole community,” Bishop Zubik concluded.

Judge Lally-Green was appointed a judge of the Superior Court by former Governor Tom Ridge in 1998, and in 1999, she was elected to a full 10-year term on the court.

“I have been incredibly privileged to serve the citizens of this Commonwealth for almost 12 years as a judge on the Superior Court,” she said in announcing her retirement from the Court.

“To now be able to serve the community and the Church under the leadership of Bishop Zubik along with his nationally-recognized staff is an extraordinary opportunity for me. I am honored by Bishop Zubik’s confidence in me and honored to be a part of his ministry,” she said.

Judge Lally-Green graduated from Duquesne University with a bachelor's degree in science in secondary education/mathematics in 1971 and from Duquesne University's School of Law, where she was a member of the Law Review in 1974.

She was an associate with a private law firm in Pittsburgh, counsel to the commodity Futures Trading Commission in Washington, DC, counsel to Westinghouse Electric Corporation, a research associate and consultant to justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court for 12 years, and a full professor of law at Duquesne University's School of Law for 15 years.

While a judge, she served as an adjunct professor at Duquesne School of Law and will continue in that capacity.

Judge Lally-Green was one of the Supreme Court's inaugural members of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Commission on Race, Gender and Ethnic Fairness. While there, she chaired a committee that developed a Non-Discrimination Policy and Procedures that the Supreme Court adopted in December 2007 for Pennsylvania's entire judiciary. She also chaired the Supreme Court's Gender Fairness Implementation Committee in 2002.

Judge Lally-Green is a member of the Board of Regents at Saint Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, and a board member of the Saint Thomas More Society of Allegheny County.

She is also a member of the board of directors of Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania; Auberle, which serves children of broken families; and Mercy-UPMC Hospital.

Judge Lally-Green and her husband live in Butler County and are members of Saint Kilian Parish, Mars. They are the parents of three adult children.