philadelphia

In the spotlight: Pope meets clown-therapists, Laetare Medal winner, cyclone strikes Malawi

The Basilica Shrine of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, as it is now called, is a Marian devotional destination in the Germantown section of Philadelphia and is a ministry of the Vincentians in their congregation’s Eastern province.

In a unanimous decision June 17, the Supreme Court said that a Catholic social service agency should not have been excluded from Philadelphia’s foster care program because it did not accept same-sex couples as foster parents.

Archbishop Chaput, who has headed the Philadelphia Archdiocese since 2011, turned 75 last September, the age at which canon law requires bishops to turn in their resignation to the pope. Archbishop Perez, 58, was installed as the 11th bishop of Cleveland Sept. 5, 2017.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia has received a subpoena as part of a federal grand jury investigating allegations of child sexual abuse and a cover-up of such claims, church officials confirmed Oct. 18.

Philadelphia’s ongoing struggle with opioid addiction has found an epicenter in the Kensington section of the city, where open-air heroin sales, drug usage and overdoses have become commonplace.

Priests, deacons, seminarians and laypeople who work in marriage preparation and pastoral care “regarding matters of human sexuality” in the Philadelphia Archdiocese received six-page guidelines July 1 for implementing Pope Francis’ exhortation on marriage and family.