Many years ago, the Chinatown basketball team, the Philadelphia Suns, was hosting the annual North American Chinese Basketball tournament. We had to raise a lot of money. I helped by asking local businesses to make donations. I was talking about […]
Pope Leo had a powerful and successful pastoral visit to France in September. France is known to be a country where the Catholic Church was once powerful but is now much less influential. However, something is stirring in France! In […]
November begins with the Feast of All Saints (November 1). The next day we have the Feast of All Souls. All Saints is about the holiness of ordinary people, not just famous and canonized saints. I prefer the Feast of […]
On my IPad, I watched clips of Pope Leo’s September visit to France. I was especially thrilled by the large gathering of young French Catholics in the sports stadium. The TV commentators said that there were 80,000 young people present. […]
This weekend, the Catholic Church throughout the world observes Mission Sunday. On Mission Sunday, every church is required to take a second collection to support Catholic Missions through the Society for the Propagation of the Faith throughout the world. The […]
I write this bulletin column from Rome. I am in year two of a six year appointment to a Capuchin commission that meets once each year in Rome to make recommendations about funding Capuchin projects in developing countries. It is […]
A summary of our 2025-26 operating financial report is included in today’s bulletin, along with a comparison with last year’s (2024-25) financial report. Here are a few comments to consider as you review this report: We are in deficit spending! […]
Although we Franciscans celebrate the feast of our Father Saint Francis this week, there is another saint’s feast day this week which is important to me. On October 1, the Church remembers Saint Therese of Lisieux (1873-1897), a French cloistered […]
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the Catholic Church in Europe was powerful. Emperors cowed before popes. The Church was rich, ruled over people and had its own armies. The clergy were privileged. Even monasteries, often close to the people, […]
Each year the Center City District publishes a “State of Center City” report and analysis. During Covid, Center City fell on hard times as offices emptied, stores were shuttered, tourism sputtered and crime spiked. The 2026 State of Center City […]