Day of Great Joy: Sisters of St. Joseph in Philadelphia

Bishop Kenrick wrote that May 4, 1847 was a day of great joy for the Diocese of Philadelphia because it was on that day after weeks of traveling across the country from St. Louis, the Sisters of St. Joseph arrived to take control of St. John’s Orphanage.[1] Bishop Kenrick had

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National Council of Catholic Women

Lay women associations have a long history in the Catholic Church. One such organization is the National Council of Catholic Women (NCCW). Unlike other female groups, the NCCW was founded in 1920 as part of the National Catholic Welfare Council, a predecessor to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.[1]

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Hometown Saint: Katharine Drexel and the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Philadelphia

On March 19, 1889, Katharine Drexel decided to found a new order to advance the cause of Native-American and African-American education. On February 12, 1891, Katharine pronounced her vows as the first member of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People. She added one vow to

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Parish Mapping Project

Over the past few months, CHRC have been working on a parish mapping project. Taking inspiration from a similar project from the Archdiocese of Boston, we have constructed maps of what the parish boundaries used to look like over various times in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's past. The main goal

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