Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia said Thursday it will sell or lease a large portion of the land occupied by the St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Merion, keeping 30 acres and some existing buildings for the college. Money from a sale will be used to "ensure the seminary's long-term sustainability," Archbishop Charles Chaput said in his weekly column. Like other seminaries, St. Charles Borromeo, which displays a grandiosity of a different era in some of its buildings, has seen enrollment declines.

St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls in Holmesburg marked the one-year anniversary of its rescue from closing last week with a march, rally, and Mass of Thanksgiving. Monsignor Bonner-Archbishop Prendergast Catholic High School in Drexel Hill celebrated with pretzels, a dress-down day, and played pop songs when class periods changed. But in the 12 months since Archbishop Charles J. Chaput announced a plan to restructure Catholic education in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia that spared four high schools from closing, the most dramatic changes were less visible.

In fall 2004, Ashley Brown, a 5-foot-4 sixth grader, was days away from lacing up her cleats and throwing on a helmet for the football season. She had a permission slip to join the Catholic Youth Organization team at St. Laurence School in Upper Darby and was salivating over the prospect of lining up at left tackle or nose guard, two of the sport's grittier positions. "I wasn't going out there to be twinkle toes," Brown, now 20, said in an interview last week. "I was going out there to play.

When the Archdiocese of Philadelphia set out in late 2008 to raise $200 million in donations, Catholics stepped up generously and pledged $221 million through January 2011. The Heritage of Faith/Vision of Hope campaign gathered $185 million in pledges for the archdiocese and $36 million specifically for parishes, the archdiocese reported. But pledging is one thing. Paying is another. Church officials said in late November, in a long-delayed report, that as of June 30, 2011 - just six months after the pledge period officially ended - collections were falling short.

The criminal case resulting from the serial sexual assault of a 10-year-old Northeast Philadelphia altar boy may well have ended with Wednesday's guilty verdicts against a priest and a former Catholic-school teacher. But the convictions of the Rev. Charles Engelhardt and Bernard Shero have also opened the door for a civil lawsuit with the potential to reach beyond the two defendants into the hierarchy of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. The lawsuit by the former St. Jerome's altar boy dubbed "Billy Doe" was filed in July 2011 in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.

Obama kin gets deport hearing BOSTON - A federal immigration judge has scheduled a new deportation hearing granted last year to President Obama's uncle in Massachusetts. Onyango Obama is the half brother of the president's late father. He has lived in the United States since coming from Kenya as a teenager for school. On Wednesday, his new hearing was set for Dec. 3. Obama, 68, was ordered deported in 1992 after he failed to renew an application to stay. His status emerged after a 2011 drunken-driving arrest in Framingham.

When the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced it planned to close Don Guanella Village, a residential campus for the intellectually disabled it has operated for more than 50 years, it said it was acting in the best interests of the residents by moving them into community-based care. But to families of the men who live on the Marple campus - some have been there most of their lives - the plans were anything but welcome. They say they feel as let down and worried about their relatives' futures as they are grateful for the care given over the years.

A watchdog group that runs an online clearinghouse of clergy-sex abuse allegations began publishing Tuesday the first of 5,700 pages of documents about past claims against Archdiocese of Philadelphia priests. The group, BishopAccountability.org, culled the documents from evidence introduced at last year's landmark child-endangerment trial of Msgr. William J. Lynn. The records include confidential church memos, e-mails, psychological evaluations, and correspondence among archdiocese officials, accusers, and more than 20 priests who served in area parishes over the last half-century.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Tuesday that two North Philadelphia parishes are to merge Jan. 27. St. Hugh of Cluny, 145 W. Tioga St., will combine with St. Veronica, 533 W. Tioga St. The new parish will retain St. Veronica's name and parishioners will worship at St. Hugh's church. The decision is an outgrowth of the archdiocese's pastoral planning process, which is reviewing demographic shifts in the Catholic population, declines in Mass attendance, and building studies.

Don Guanella Village, a longtime residence in Marple Township for developmentally disabled men, may close in 2015, and its clients may be moved to new community-based housing, an official with the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said. The proposed changes were prompted by the concerns of state and archdiocesan program staff going back over a year that the facility was not in line with "best practices" of caring for the intellectually disabled in a less-institutional setting, according to James Amato, deputy secretary for the archdiocesan office of Catholic Social Services.