171st Air Refueling Wing Welcomes National Group Of Priest Pilots

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Pittsburgh is gaining a world-wide reputation as a fine place for national conventions and meetings.

Some are enormous like the G-20 summit, while others are much smaller.

Now, there are several dozen priests from across the country who have flown into Pittsburgh for their annual convention.

"This is a fascinating group of priests who are also pilots, and they established this group about 52 years ago," Fr. Joseph McCaffrey said.

They are the National Association of Priest Pilots. The group is made up of men from 30 to 90, who love God and love to fly.

Msgr. John Hemann is a charter member from Iowa.

"Our mission is to -- you know if we can bring God's message and his love to more people -- we are with you," Msgr. Hemann said.

Part of this year's meeting was spent at the 171st Air Refueling Wing learning about the mission of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. It included a briefing from the wing commander and a chance to try their hand inside a state-of-the-art re-fueling simulator.

"We are thrilled to be able to be able to show them our current capabilities. A number of them have been retired for quite some time, and so technology has changed, and what we have in support of our nation's defense is different than it was 20 years ago," Major Karen Bogdan said.

Yet this is also a chance for the priests to share their common bond of having a rather unique hobby.

"We have Mass together, we pray together, we share stories, and then we try to explore the local area and maybe do something aviation-wise as well," Fr. McCaffrey said.

"Not every message that a priest gives out comes from the pulpit to somebody sitting in a pew. When you get involved in flying and you are involved with other many, many people, it's amazing the ministry that takes place," Msgr. Hemann said.

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