Archdiocese

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia's Catholic Charities Appeals, which pays for social-service programs, has received more than $9 million toward its $10 million goal, the archdiocese said Thursday. The campaign, launched in February, was extended through the end of the year to allow "broader outreach about the good works supported by the appeal" with the goal of raising more money, the archdiocese said. Last year's appeal, which brought in $8 million, formally ended May 31. The archdiocese said that the number of donors rose this year to 55,000 - including 18,000 who had never donated before - from 37,000 last year.

ON OCT. 15, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced its decision to restore Rev. Joseph DiGregorio to ministry, a priest credibly accused of the sexual exploitation of a minor. It did so while releasing as little information as possible. The Archdiocese's poor record of accountability and transparency began to become known as early as 2002 when then-Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua was quoted on CNN as saying, "We all are agreed that no priest guilty of even one act of sexual abuse of a minor will function in any ecclesial ministry or any capacity in our diocese.

  The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has scrapped plans to build a new facility for Lansdale Catholic High School in Hilltown and will instead put the 68-acre site up for sale. Officials Tuesday announced that after "careful consideration" the archdiocese had decided against moving forward with a plan announced more than four years ago to replace the building. "The financial challenges facing the archdiocese have been clearly communicated in recent months," Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald, an auxiliary bishop who oversees Catholic education, said.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has scrapped plans to build a new facility for Lansdale Catholic High School in Hilltown and will instead put the 68-acre site up for sale. Officials Tuesday announced that after "careful consideration" the archdiocese had decided against moving forward with a plan announced more than four years ago to replace the building. "The financial challenges facing the archdiocese have been clearly communicated in recent months," Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald, an auxiliary bishop who oversees Catholic education, said.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput said Monday that he had reinstated a Philadelphia priest whose case city prosecutors cited as proof that the archdiocese failed to properly investigate clergy sex abuse or misconduct. The Rev. Joseph DiGregorio had been accused of molesting a teenage girl in the late 1960s. His case was a focal point of the scathing 2011 grand jury report about the handling of abuse cases by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and he was among the first of 26 priests placed on leave as church officials reexamined allegations against them.

The fortunes of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and its more than 250 parishes are deeply and torturously entwined. The archdiocese, the central organizing force for 1.46 million Catholics in Southeastern Pennsylvania, depends on money from member parishes to pay for churchwide activities and to shift money to weaker parishes. But that formula is broken: Too many parishes have seen attendance fall and offerings shrivel, rendering them unable to support themselves. Ten have been shuttered in the last year, including Ascension of Our Lord in Kensington, which is closing Sunday.

THE ASCENSION of Our Lord Parish in Kensington will close for good at the end of the month, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced Tuesday. Parishioners can now go to either Holy Innocents Church, about 1.7 miles away, or Visitation BVM, less than a mile away, the Archdiocese said in a statement. It said the Ascension building, on Westmoreland Street near G, will not be maintained as a worship site since the 98-year-old building requires at least $3 million in improvements.

Archbishop Charles Chaput has approved plans to close the Ascension of Our Lord Parish in Philadelphia's Harrowgate section, the Archdiocese announced today. Parishioners can now go to either Holy Innocents Church, about 1.7 miles away, Visitation, B.V.M. Parish, less than a mile away, the Archdiocese said in a statement. It said the church will not be maintained as a worship site since the 98-year-old building requires at least $3 million in physical improvements. The closure, effective Oct. 1, is the latest in a series by the Archdiocese as it deals with declining enrollments and rising maintenance costs for aging church buildings.

ANDY DRUDING has a lot to say to the priest who he says repeatedly raped him when he was a middle-school choir boy. So he wrote the Rev. Francis S. Feret a letter. He wanted to give it to him personally, but hasn't - still scared, after 40 years, to see Feret again. But Tuesday, Druding read his letter in the most public of venues: a news conference at which it was announced that eight more lawsuits have been filed, including one by Druding, against the Philadelphia Archdiocese, its leaders and seven priests accused of sexually abusing children.

A 56-YEAR-OLD PRIEST who was preparing to return to ministry after being cleared in a child-sex-abuse investigation has been placed on administrative leave for a second time as the Archdiocese of Philadelphia investigates new allegations against him. Michael Chapman, who has served for 11 years at Ascension of Our Lord, on Westmoreland Street near G, in Kensington, spent about a year on administrative leave before being cleared to return to ministry...