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....
On Friday, November 18, the American Catholic Historical Society had the privilege of conferring its 2022 Commodore Barry Award to Jerry Parsons, CTDI Chairman and founder. Jerry and his family have a long history with philanthropic organizations throughout the Philadelphia region with a major focus on Catholic education and the...
On Friday, December 3, the American Catholic Historical Society had the privilege of conferring its 2021 Commodore Barry Award to Archbishop Nelson Pérez of Philadelphia. It was our first major gathering in two years and a fitting celebration for our distinguished honoree. We recorded the event to share our special...
This year marks the 175th anniversary of the founding of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, the religious order established by the Venerable Cornelia Connelly, a native Philadelphian. To mark this occasion, on Sunday, September 26 the ACHS welcomed Sister Roseanne McDougall, RHCJ and Ms. Emily Siegel to speak on...
On Sunday, May 16, 2021, the ACHS recalled the life and legacy of one of its founders, Dr. Lawrence Flick, on the 101st anniversary of his being awarded the University of Notre Dame’s Laetare medal, one of the highest honors given to an American Catholic layperson. The event was held...
On Tuesday, April 20, Dr. William Portier of the University of Dayton spoke on the life of Father Thomas A. Judge, CM, a pioneer in the development of the lay apostolate. Dr. Portier’s talk was based on his biography of Judge, Every Catholic an Apostle (Catholic University of America Press). The presentation...
On Sunday, March 21, Dr. Michael Mullan presented on his forthcoming book, The Philadelphia Irish: Nation, Culture, and the Rise of a Gaelic Public Sphere (Rutgers University Press, 2021). His research drew heavily from archival material at the Catholic Historical Research Center of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, including some sources that are part...