Principals in the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh were told last month that parents who received tuition assistance had to lobby state legislators to pass a school voucher bill -- and document it -- or lose their funding.

Whoops. Nevermind.

After Ronald T. Bowes, assistant superintendent for policy and development, emailed those instructions to the principals Oct. 20, the diocese sent out its own directive Nov. 16, saying Mr. Bowes had "misstated long-standing diocesan policy relative to the distribution of financial aid to parents."

The mixed signals come at a time when supporters of a tuition voucher program are working to get a bill passed by the end of the year.

Mr. Bowes' email began by saying "we must be relentless in our efforts to help pass school choice this year. I am asking you to inform parents that have received tuition assistance that they must contact their legislators and return the contact form attached to you in order to receive a grant next year. I then want you to return these contact forms to me. This way we can insure that a solid effort is being carried out by our diocese."

The attached forms ask for the date, the name of the parent and the school, the name of the state senator and state representative, the number of times contacted and how, the legislator's position and "if oppose, why?"

After he learned of the memo from principals earlier this month, the Rev. Kris Stubna, secretary for Catholic eduction in the diocese, said he began an investigation and, along with Robert L. Paserba, superintendent of Catholic schools, sent out a "corrective" email a few days later.

That email noted that Mr. Bowes "incorrectly stated that tuition assistance grants for parents would be contingent on whether or not they had contacted their state legislators in support of school choice. This is simply not true and I would ask that you be sure to share this memo with all your parents."

The diocese is not "requiring recipients of [tuition assistance] funding to provide documentation of their contacts with the state offices," Father Stubna's letter said, noting that if parents "wish to voluntarily inform you that such contacts have been made, it would help in [monitoring] our collective efforts and contacts being made throughout our six-county area."

Mr. Bowes couldn't be reached for comment.

Father Stubna said he believes the principals contacted him with questions because "it was not consistent with long-standing diocesan policy." While the diocese strongly supports "school choice, it is not an issue of doctrine," he said.