41st International Eucharistic Congress
In 1976, Philadelphia hosted a major event unrelated to the bicentennial celebrations. It was the 41st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC), which brought Catholics together from around the world to celebrate and discuss a theme connected to the Eucharist. The history of the event dates back to 1881, when a one
Dougherty’s Movie Boycott
On May 23, 1934, Cardinal Dougherty called on all Catholics living in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to boycott motion picture theaters.[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
Victory Mass
With the outbreak of World War II, the Catholic Church in America declared their support to the American war effort. Nowhere was this more evident than in Philadelphia, when Cardinal Dougherty held a Mass to “obtain from the mercy of God our country’s victory.”[1] The Mass was scheduled for
World War One Army Chaplains
With the upcoming 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, this month’s blog post looks at the contribution of Catholic chaplains. The history of chaplains in the United States date back to the American Revolution when the Centennial Congress created the Chaplain Corps; however, Catholic priests would not