News
Local Catholics frame response to immigration challenges
By Denise PetersonSpecial to The CS&T PHILADELPHIA – About 90 Catholics from the Philadelphia Archdiocese gathered at Our Lady of Ransom Parish’s gymnasium on Sept. 11 for a leadership meeting on immigration reform. Participants included clergy, religious and lay Catholics from the five counties, as well as representatives from other dioceses in Pennsylvania and Catholic […]
Dream comes true for preschooler
By Christie L. ChicoineCS&T Staff Writer BLUE BELL – Four-year-old John Shapiro came to pre-kindergarten Monday, Sept. 14, at St. Helena School in Blue Bell, Montgomery County. It was a dream achieved for the boy who had become accustomed to seeing his older siblings off to school, dutifully biding his time until he, too, would […]
Pa. crisis impacts Church
By Christie L. ChicoineCS&T Staff Writer PHILADELPHIA – As the Pennsylvania budget impasse has significantly impacted Catholic schools and Catholic social service programs across the Archdiocese, Church officials have communicated their concerns to legislators of the commonwealth. This week diocesan officials were awaiting details of a budget agreement reached by legislators and Gov. Ed Rendell […]
20 years later, her spirituality still grows
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T Immaculate Heart Sister Mary James McCaffrey, a classroom teacher for 28 years and now a director of religious education for 20, was an unlikely candidate for the convent when growing up. The middle of five children of James and Esther McCaffrey, or as she puts it, “the meat between […]
The Holy See’s sports hall of fame is revealed
By Carol GlatzCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) – No one would ever mistake St. Peter’s Square for Giants Stadium. But for centuries, the Vatican has hosted countless competitions and dozens of high-caliber athletes – most of them lay employees, some of them monsignors and popes. Because so few people know about the sporty side […]
Detroit Archdiocese restructures
Citing steep cash losses, buildings will be sold, employees laid off DETROIT (CNS) – A major financial restructuring plan for the Archdiocese of Detroit, which is losing approximately $42,000 per day, calls for a 29 percent decrease in the number of employees, the sale of buildings, moving administrative support offices to a more cost-efficient property […]
Family celebrates 136 years of marriage
By Colleen Boyle SharpSpecial to The CS&T “We have been truly blessed in life,” said 86-year-old Jim Devers, a parishioner of St. Pius X Parish in Broomall, Delaware County. Jim and his wife Rose will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary on Sept. 24. Most would say the longevity of their marriage is a rare accomplishment, […]
Memphis bishop reflects on pastoral letter
By Lou BaldwinSpecial to The CS&T PHILADELPHIA – When the archdiocesan Office for Black Catholics needed a keynote speaker for a Sept. 12 symposium marking the silver jubilee of “What We Have Seen and Heard,” the 1984 pastoral letter issued by the black Catholic bishops of the United States, it went to the source. Bishop […]
Catholic officials encouraged by Obama’s speech on health care reform
By Dennis SadowskiCatholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) – President Barack Obama’s pledge to continue the ban on the use of federal funds for abortion and to maintain conscience protections for health care workers in any health reform legislation was welcomed by two officials of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the president of the […]
Let the Church sing Amen!
Black Catholics gather for annual St. Peter Claver MassBy Arlene EdmondsSpecial to The CS&T PHILADELPHIA – The Knights of Peter Claver stood outside St. Peter Claver Center for Evangelization in South Philadelphia on a recent rainy Wednesday evening. Adorned in their signature feathered headpieces, they set a regal tone for the celebration of Mass on […]