News
Sister Rosemary Haslam, S.S.J.
Sister Rosemary Haslam, S.S.J., formerly Sister Muriel Loretta, died May 27 at the age of 76. Sister Rosemary was born in Philadelphia, the daughter of Joseph W. and Ruth D. Staub-Haslam. She entered the Sisters of St. Joseph from St. Bridget Parish in Philadelphia in 1953. Sister Rosemary served in the Archdioceses of Philadelphia and […]
Sister Theresa Charles Grant, F.M.S.C.
Sister Theresa Charles Grant, F.M.S.C., died May 24 at the Sisters’ Infirmary in Peekskill, N.Y. Sister Theresa Charles was a member of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart since 1936 and was professed in 1938. Sister Theresa Charles received her bachelor’s degree from Ladycliff College in Highland Falls, N.Y., and her master’s degree […]
Sister Rita Francis Fiefhaus, O.S.F.
Sister Rita Francis Fiefhaus, O.S.F., 94, died May 25 in Assisi House. She had been a professed member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia for 71 years. Sister Rita Francis was born Mary Isabel Fiefhaus in Philadelphia, where she was a member of St. Bonaventure Parish. She entered the congregation in 1938 and […]
Edmund F. Armstrong
Edmund F. Armstrong, age 98, of Malvern, formerly of Philadelphia, died June 11. He was the husband of the late Josephine (nee Meade), father of Sister Ave Armstrong, S.S.J., and Mary (Michael) Lucks, and grandfather of Geoffrey and the late Jonathan Lucks. A funeral Mass was celebrated June 15 at St. Norbert Church in Paoli. […]
Catherine W. Andries
Catherine W. Andries of Plymouth Meeting died May 4 at 102 years of age. Born Oct. 17, 1909 to the late Thomas and Mary (nee Brophy) Woods, Andries graduated from Misericordia Hospital School of Nursing in 1931. She served as a registered nurse at Fitzgerald Mercy Hospital from the time it opened in 1933 until […]
Philadelphia monsignor found guilty of criminal charge in abuse trial
With the same expression of serenity that he had shown for 13 weeks, Msgr. William J. Lynn listened to the criminal jury foreman speak the verdict of guilty on one charge of endangering the welfare of a child June 22 at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia. Msgr. Lynn becomes the first high-ranking Catholic clergyman in the United States to be convicted of a crime associated with the handling of priests accused of child sexual abuse, though he himself faced no charge of abuse.
Archdiocese lays out broad changes in administration; newspaper among offices to close or merge
(See a revised Organizational Chart here.) A shake-up of seismic proportions for the administration of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia was announced by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput Thursday, June 21. Consolidations including elimination of offices or combination of others with reduced staffing levels resulted in more than 40 employees losing their jobs. Included in the sweeping changes was the discontinuation of The Catholic Standard and Times. After 117 years, the weekly newspaper of the Archdiocese, which last year became a monthly paper, ceases to publish. The recent June issue was the last of the newspaper.
POWER forum held at St. Raymond Church
On Monday, June 18, nearly 300 members and allies of congregations in Northwest Philadelphia affiliated with POWER: An Interfaith Movement, gathered at St. Raymond Catholic Church for the organization’s third Economic Justice Forum. POWER (Philadelphians Organized to Witness, Empower and Rebuild) is an ecumenical organization that is working collaboratively with 40 religious congregations, including 10 […]
Proposed Manayunk regional school will not open due to low enrollment
The proposed St. Blaise Regional School in the Manayunk section of Philadelphia will not open in September 2012 as previously planned, according to a statement from the Archdiocese June 18. The school was formed out of the Blue Ribbon Commission recommendations announced in January 2012 to merge St. Bridget Parish School and Holy Child Regional […]
Church bombings, reprisal attacks, claim 45 lives in Nigeria
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Bishop George Dodo of Zaria, Nigeria, was in the middle of his homily June 17 “when we heard a loud explosion.” A car bomb had just exploded near the Cathedral of Christ the King, where the bishop was celebrating the second Mass of the day. “The car bomb created a crater […]