Archbishop Ryan

...s also active in expanding ministry work for the marginalized. He opened a number of institutions, including, St. Joseph’s House for Homeless Industrious Boys and the Philadelphia Protectory for Boys (now St. Gabriel’s Hall) in 1888 and 1895, respectively.[10] Ryan was also active in labor relations, working on a number

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Collection Development Policy

...in include financial, administrative and legal records, parish histories, minute books, letters, journals and diaries, scrapbooks, photographs, artifacts, books, pamphlets and other materials that pertain to the history, development and practice of the Catholic Church in Southeastern Pennsylvania. If you are interested in donating materials to the CHRC, please contact

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Starting from Scratch: The Story of Msgr. Hawks and St. Joan of Arc Parish

...the store. One thing was certain, the chapel had to be enlarged as soon as possible.” Hawks told his parishioners that “we need any man who can drive a nail for this to work.” As was common in the archdiocese, parishes were encouraged to quickly open a school. The first

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Dougherty’s Movie Boycott

...heaters.[1] By doing so, Dougherty declared it sinful for any of the area’s 800,000 Catholics to enter a movie theater. In his letter to the priests of the Archdiocese, Dougherty called the motion picture theater “perhaps the greatest menace to faith and morals in America today.”[2] Dougherty and many others

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