Parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Philadelphia are encouraged to support the Catholic Charities Appeal’s In-Pew Collection scheduled for the weekend of May 16th and 17th. The in-pew collection supplements the direct mail campaign of the Annual Appeal.

Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has asked that all 219 parishes in the five-county Archdiocese of Philadelphia consider taking up a voluntary one time, special collection during the weekend of May 30th-31st to support victims of the devastating 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Nepal that has claimed more than 6,000 lives so far.

The Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced today that Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap. has reviewed recommendations of the Archdiocesan Strategic Planning Committee and made decisions regarding possible parish mergers in the City of Philadelphia as well as Delaware and Montgomery Counties.

Throughout the weeks of April, our Commonwealth, along with the rest of the country, has been focused on National Child Abuse Prevention and Awareness Month.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments April 28, on the constitutionality of states defining and recognizing marriage as the union of one man and one woman.

The World Meeting of Families – Philadelphia 2015 today announced that its highly anticipated online volunteer registration is now officially open to the public. With more than 10,000 volunteers needed for the World Meeting

On March 5 (http://catholicphilly.com/2015/03/think-tank/archbishop-chaput-column/remembering-a-forgotten-genocide/), I devoted this column space to remembering the mass murder carried out by Turkish authorities against Armenian Christians and other Christian minorities then living in Turkey.

Father Edward Malesic’s appointment as the 5th Bishop of the Diocese of Greensburg is a moment of joy for the Church in Pennsylvania. I’m confident that he will carry on the work of his predecessors with joy and fidelity.

I was deeply saddened today to learn of the death of Cardinal Francis E. George, Archbishop Emeritus of Chicago.

Cardinal George was a close friend over many years, from the time I was a young bishop in Rapid City. We talked often. He was a constant source of good counsel and encouragement.

Earlier this month, on the vigil of Divine Mercy Sunday, Pope Francis issued a special decree announcing a Jubilee Year of Mercy to begin on December 8. Divine Mercy Sunday – the first Sunday after Easter each year — was instituted in 2000 by St. John Paul II, who expressed his own profound understanding of mercy in the encyclical Dives in Misericordia (“Rich in Mercy”).