Local News
Bishop Shanahan students lay wreath at Arlington National Cemetery
Visiting the cemetery as part of their history classes, 43 honors students of the archdiocesan high school in Downingtown participated in a ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
Local refugees recall peace in the Middle East, not long ago
Five refugees from Middle Eastern countries who worship at St. Maron Church in South Philadelphia spoke to CatholicPhilly.com about the problems in their homelands and their peaceful lives before the wars to control oil began.
New life of faith springing from troubled city neighborhood
The Grays Ferry section of Philadelphia has many problems, but due to the efforts of a Norbertine priest, St. Gabriel Parish is strengthening from a renewed focus on the Mass and prayer outreach on the streets.
Pa. bill would ban late-term dismemberment abortions
Because a fetus can feel pain after 20 weeks' gestation and the risk to the mother's health can rise during abortions that remove the limbs of the fetus, state Rep. Kathy Rapp has called for banning the procedure.
Catholic education office gets new funding from parishes
Parishes in the Philadelphia Archdiocese will pay a new assessment of $2.50 per registered family in support of elementary education and catechetical formation, after a foundation pulled its funding.
U.N.’s top official on Syria tells Bonner-Prendie of long road to peace
Kevin Kennedy, a former Marine and now the United Nations’ coordinator for the crisis in Syria, brought home to students of his alma mater the realities of the Middle East, which they are learning about in classes.
Catholics of archdiocese donate $645K to retired religious
The 33,000 retired religious sisters, brothers and priests in the U.S. benefit from the annual collection, of which 80 percent remains in the Philadelphia Archdiocese for the care of local religious.
Ancient oratory makes a comeback in students’ contest
Young students from the four Regina Academies in the Philadelphia Archdiocese competed in a contest reciting poetry, speeches and literature from memory in a way that would have made the Romans proud.
Cuban-born Catholic sees benefit of warming U.S.-Cuba relations
Local Catholic Jorge Fernandez remembers the oppression in his Cuban homeland, but he thinks it's time for engagement rather than isolation, which the visit of President Obama represents.
Rally at cathedral supports sisters’ religious freedom case
About 100 people prayed for relief of the federal contraceptive mandate on the Little Sisters of the Poor and other church organizations March 23 in Philadelphia, just as the Supreme Court was hearing the case.