St. Faustina was born Helena Kowalska in 1905 to a poor, devout family in Poland. Christ chose Faustina to receive and share his message of divine mercy, and she experienced many mystical visions of Christ throughout her life. The first […]

I am alarmed and surprised that the United States is embroiled in another war in the Middle East. We attacked Iraq on March 29, 2003 and we were at war until 2011, 8 years. It is estimated that 150,000 people […]

Center City is an interesting place to live and an even more interesting place for a church community. Of the six Center City Catholic churches (Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Augustine, Saint Joseph, Saint Mary, Saint Patrick and the Cathedral […]

Two weeks ago, I told you in my bulletin column of a survey about “confidence in religion”. The study that I quoted in said that confidence in religion has declined among Americans. In 1973, 16% of Americans had “hardly any […]

We are well into Lent by now. On Ash Wednesday, the Gospel we read that day laid out for us the program for Lent. Jesus speaks of prayer, fasting and almsgiving as the path to conversion. So how are you […]

Those of us who love our Catholic faith and who sincerely believe in Jesus often lament the decline in religious belief and practice. We can remember a time when people went to church more often and tried to govern their […]

Since 2022 Saint John’s, in cooperation with Holy Redeemer, has had a revamped RCIA (now called OCIA) program, partly by zoom, partly in person. Many Catholics throughout the English speaking world are familiar with the term RCIA (Rite of Christian […]

On February 16, 1899 at approximately 9 PM, a fire began on the south side of Market Street in the Emerson Shoe Company between 12th and 13th Streets. Soon a six story building was ablaze and several businesses were being […]

Lent begins this week on Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is the biggest day of the year at Saint John’s; attendance surpasses Christmas and Easter. Saint John’s is a unique church with a robust weekday ministry because of the many workers […]

Saint Francis of Assisi died on October 3, 1226. This is the 800th anniversary of his death. In January, 2026, the Catholic Church just concluded its Great Jubilee year, a time of hope and renewal where pilgrimages where encouraged and […]