Local News
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 […]
Recourse for merged or closed parishes
Most dioceses and archdioceses in the United States have had to face the reality of changing demographics and the declining number of active priests available to serve the people. This has led to the unfortunate need to close and merge parishes, so to best utilize available resources and personnel. In the Philadelphia Archdiocese the process […]
Religion teachers reflect on vocation to hand on the faith to children
Catechists and Parish Religious Education Program (P.R.E.P.) teachers from across the Archdiocese came together on March 10 at Archbishop John Carroll High School in Radnor for the 23rd annual Catechist Convocation. The yearly faith formation event was cosponsored by the Office for Catechetical Formation and the Archdiocesan Association of Parish Directors, Coordinators and Administrators of […]
Priests trial continues, marked by tension, tears
A young man took the stand this week for two days and repeated numerous times that he had been allegedly abused by Father James J. Brennan, one of two priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on trial in the landmark case. At turns both emotional in his testimony on April 4 and combative with Father […]
First week of priests’ trial examines patterns of administrative actions
Prosecutors in the landmark trial of two priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia this week portrayed through witnesses an apparent longstanding pattern of archdiocesan officials failing to inform parishioners or parish pastors about priests assigned to their parish who had been accused of sexual misconduct or sexual abuse of children. The court examined cases of priests previously mentioned in the grand jury reports of 2005 or 2011, including Fathers Francis X. Trauger, Raymond O. Leneweaver, Albert T. Kostelnick and Michael G. Murtha. Only the latter involved actions from 1995 onward. The others involved incidents from the late 1960s until 1991.
Day of prayer and fasting to be observed today
Catholics from parishes throughout the five-county Archdiocese of Philadelphia will join in spiritual union with their brothers and sisters throughout the state to preserve their religious liberty March 30. In a letter issued earlier this month through the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference (PCC), all of the Catholic bishops of Pennsylvania called on the faithful throughout the […]
Archdiocesan Superintendent of Schools resigns
With great reluctance, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announces that it has accepted the resignation of Mary E. Rochford, Superintendent of Schools. Her decision was made in order to devote time to providing physical care for members of her family unable to do so on their own. Rochford said, “It has been my privilege to serve […]
Rally for Religious Freedom held at Independence Hall
As one of approximately 140 such demonstrations around the country, on March 23 a throng of about 800 gathered for a noonday rally at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, the birthplace of American liberty, to protest what they firmly believe is an infringement on their freedom of religion – the new requirement imposed by the Obama administration […]