Thank you to all those who joined our January lecture by Deacon Alex Solsma, “Chaplain Kane: The Life and Ministry of Stalag 17’s POW Priest.” In February 1943, Stephen Kane, an Irish-born Catholic military chaplain from Iowa, was captured by the Germans in North Africa. He declined repatriation so he...

Chairman, Equus Capital Partners, Ltd. DiLella is a principal of Equus Capital Partners, Ltd., serving as the Firm’s Chairman. Under DiLella’s leadership, Equus has grown to become a multi-faceted national real estate investment company with expertise in development, investment, asset management, and property management. DiLella’s career as a real estate...

Thank you to all our members, friends, and benefactors who joined us at our 43rd Annual Barry Award Dinner to celebrate this year’s honoree, Kerry Alys Robinson. It was a most joyous evening, with nearly 200 individuals filling the Lincoln Ballroom at the Union League of Philadelphia.  “The Barry Award...

Thank you to all those who joined our September lecture by Dr. Joseph Mannard, “The 1831 Scandal of Sister Gertrude: America’s First Runaway Nun.” In this presentation, Dr. Joseph Mannard revealed how American Catholic leadership, male and female, engaged in successful damage control following the 1831 flight of Sister Ann...

Thank you to all of our members and friends who joined us for this year’s Garden Party at the society headquarters. It was a delightful evening with wonderful company! Photo gallery Enjoy your summer! Look for new events in September.

Thank you to everyone who joined us for Father Thomas Betz’s lecture on the history of Philadelphia’s Holy Redeemer Chinese Catholic Church. Holy Redeemer Church in Philadelphia has the distinction of being the first Catholic church in the Western hemisphere built for Chinese people. Dedicated in 1941, the church recently...

On February 18, 2024, in a timely talk to coincide with Black History Month, the ACHS welcomed Ms. Bea Joyner to speak on Oneness: A Black Catholic’s Journey, a documentary project that captures Black Catholic life at Most Blessed Sacrament parish in West Philadelphia.  She shared some of her photographs of the...

Thank you to all our members, friends, and benefactors who joined us at our 41st Annual Barry Award Dinner to celebrate this year’s honorees, Theresa and Paul Murtagh. It was a most joyous evening, with nearly 300 individuals filling the Lincoln Ballroom at the Union League of Philadelphia.  It was...

One of the ways that early members of the American Catholic Historical Society preserved a record of their activities was by gathering materials together in a series of scrapbooks. In this talk, Dr. Patrick Hayes revisits those scrapbooks to gain insights into both the founding years of the ACHS and...

St. Elizabeth Parish, founded in North Philadelphia in 1872 to serve a German immigrant population, would later be transformed as African Americans fleeing the harsh realities of segregation in the South flooded into Northern cities like Philadelphia. By the 1950s, with the support of dynamic and innovative pastoral leadership, St....