Local News
Gender equality brings economic empowerment to all, CRS adviser says
VILLANOVA, Pa. (CNS) — Empowering women and girls makes good economic sense. That’s the message Carrie Miller, senior technical adviser for health and HIV with Catholic Relief Services, brought to a roomful of Villanova University students April 18. Miller, who has worked in 10 countries since joining the overseas aid and development agency for the […]
Papal Foundation to present Pope with major donation for charity
Nearly 80 members and guests of the U.S.-based Papal Foundation will travel to Rome to present Pope Benedict XVI with a major gift to fund his charitable programs worldwide. The presentation will be made during a private audience with the Holy Father on April 21. The Papal Foundation was founded in 1988 to provide sustainable […]
Three new members appointed to Archdiocesan Review Board
Three new members have been appointed to the Archdiocesan Review Board, the consultative panel that advises the Archbishop of Philadelphia throughout the process of addressing allegations of sexual abuse of minors, evaluating clerics’ suitability for ministry, and the continual review of archdiocesan policies and procedures related to these matters. With the appointment of these new […]
Archbishop Chaput announces his final decisions for four Parish Planning Areas
Archbishop Charles Chaput, having been advised by the Strategic Planning Committee, and reviewing all proposals, has announced his final decisions for the first four Pastoral Planning Areas (PPAs) in the Archdiocese that were examined for possible parish mergers and closures. Pastors of involved parishes received phone calls on Tuesday, April 10, informing them of the […]
Philadelphia firefighters laid to rest
Philadelphians were saddened by the deaths of two firefighters in a blaze that consumed a vacant Kensington factory in the early hours of April 9, Easter Monday. Lt. Robert Neary, and Firefighter Daniel Sweeney were both members of Ladder 10 Company, Platoon C, and both were products of Catholic schools. Neary, who died at the […]
Parish fundraisers yielding positive results
Capital campaigns are never easy, and it is remarkable that the Heritage of Faith — Vision of Hope archdiocesan campaign that ended in early 2011 surpassed its stated goal of $200 million in pledges. It took a lot of grassroots effort in the parishes, and probably more so in the 18 parishes where planned parish […]
Charities Appeal tops $5 million mark
Maybe it’s because the theme “Because I am Catholic” touches hearts. Maybe it’s because of the improved economy. Maybe it’s because of an earlier starting date. Maybe it’s because of more imaginative marketing, including social media. Maybe it’s the explanatory video. The reason doesn’t really matter: What counts is that Philadelphia’s annual Catholic Charities Appeal […]
A proper burial — 180 years in the making
They emigrated to the United States in the early summer of 1832 from Donegal, Tyrone and Derry Counties in Ireland. Hired off the docks in Philadelphia to work on a stretch of tracks on the Pennsylvania & Columbia Railroad (which later became the Reading and Columbia Railroad) between Philadelphia and Lancaster County, 57 Irish immigrants […]
Conference focuses on ‘Humanae Vitae’
Coincidental and timely is the way Dr. Lester Ruppersberger described the conference he led recently that focused on natural family planning. “Humanae Vitae as Seen through the Lens of Theology of the Body” focused on the method of natural birth control that adheres to Catholic teaching but, in the long run, is spiritually and physically […]
Accepting disability with faith in God
Hereditary Spastic Paraparesis (HSP) is classified as a rare disease with only a handful of people per 100,000 contracting it. That’s not much comfort to Helen Kienlem, because the first word is operative — it runs in families. The seventh of the eight children of Joan and John Kienlem, she is one of six in […]