On Sunday, February 21, Dr. Barbara Klaczynska Schmidt shared her research on Little Flower High School and Catholic Girls’ Education in Philadelphia as part of our local history series. The talk coincides with the celebration of Little Flower’s 80th anniversary.   The presentation is now available for viewing on Zoom.

The ACHS joins the church and the nation in celebrating Black History Month. It is an occasion to remind ourselves of the tremendous contributions Black Catholics have made to the church through their enduring faith and witness in the face of discrimination and adversity. We invite you to check out the following...

The ACHS is pleased to announce a new benefit of membership:  Free online access to the Society’s award-winning journal, American Catholic Studies! This includes access to the full run of back issues from 2011 onward. This benefit is made possible through our partnership with Project Muse, which hosts our journal as...

Dear Members and Friends: As we prepare to celebrate the Birth of Christ, the ACHS Board extends its best wishes to all our members and friends. We hope that the blessings of the season fill your hearts and homes now and throughout the new year Looking back, the past year has...

On November 8, 2020, Olga Segura joined us to discuss being a Black Catholic woman media professional in the midst of everything that has happened in 2020 including the pandemic, a long-overdue reckoning on systemic racism, and the presidential election. The presentation is now available for viewing on Zoom.

The ACHS annual newsletter for Fall 2020 has just been issued. Read about the work of the Society and learn about our upcoming events for 2020-2021. 

Because of restrictions on public gatherings related to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the ACHS has determined that it will not be feasible to hold the Barry Award Dinner this November.  We are delighted to announce, however, that this year’s selected honoree, Archbishop Nelson J. Perez, has agreed to receive the...

The opinions expressed on this blog represent the views only of the individual contributors; they do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Catholic Historical Society. The U.S. bishops have named the reality of personal and systemic racism and they have called on Catholics to undertake the following tasks:...

The board of the American Catholic Historical Society is appalled and grieved by the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. We mourn the loss of their lives and the countless others who have lost their lives as a consequence of racialized violence. Racism is a sin....

Recognize this Philadelphia church? Probably not, since it was never built! This was the original design planned for St. Ambrose in the Olney section of the city. Founded in 1923, the parish had ambitions to erect a grand “perpendicular Gothic style” edifice with seating for 1,000 worshippers. Ultimately, however, only...