The Church and Labor

CHRC has a large collection of pamphlets and writings that deal with Catholics and its teaching on the economy. The Catholic Church has a long connection to labor and the plight of the worker, beginning with Pope Leo XIII's famous Encyclical, Rerum Novarum (Latin for Of New Things), published in

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Building of the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a diocese must be in want of a cathedral. When the Diocese of Philadelphia was established in 1808, Bishop Michael Egan made Old St. Mary’s the first Cathedral of the diocese.[1] In 1837, Bishop Francis Kenrick tried to moved his seat to St.

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Centennial Exposition

The International Exhibition of Arts, Manufactures, and Products of the Soil and Mine was held from May to November 1876 in Fairmount Park to mark the 100th anniversary of the United States. Called the Centennial Exposition for short, it was a world’s fair featuring displays from around the country and

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Mary Brackett Willcox and Catholicism in the Suburbs

A New England Puritan becomes a prominent and influential Catholic in the Diocese of Philadelphia. An unlikely story but one that happened to Mary Brackett. Mary was born in 1796 in Massachusetts to Captain James Brackett and Elizabeth Odiorne.[1] In 1819, she married James Mark Willcox from Ivy Mill, PA.[2]

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