Catholic Sites and historic churches to visit in & around Philadelphia

UPDATED - Aug 2, 2015

With the World Meeting of Families coming to Philadelphia, plus the fact that I live in the Philly suburbs, I’ve decided to write a list of Philadelphia area Catholic sites.  The below list is pretty exhaustive, but I’m sure I might be missing something.  If I am, please let me know and I’ll add them to the blog.  God Bless!

Cathedrals

• Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul – http://www.cathedralphila.org
• Cathedral of Immaculate Conception (Cathedral of Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia) – http://www.ukrcathedral.com
• Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Cathedral of the Diocese of Camden – less than 5 miles away from the Cathedral for the Archdiocese of Philadelphia – 1.5 blocks away from Broadway subway station on PATCO Speed-line [Philadelphia’s red line subway line]) – http://www.camdencathedral.com

Shrines

• The National Shrine of St. John Neumann (take a taxi there and call one to pick you up afterwards) - http://www.stjohnneumann.org

• The National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel (easy taxi ride or car rental) - http://www.katharinedrexel.org
• The National Shrine of Saint Rita of Cascia (easy access from Broad Street Subway, Ellsworth – Federal Station, top of stairs) - http://www.saintritashrine.org
• Shrine of the Miraculous Medal and Museum (Art Museum of over 500 pieces of Catholic art, by appointment only) - http://www.cammonline.org
• The National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa (in Doylestown, PA; worth the drive) - http://www.czestochowa.us
• Shrine of Saint Gianna Beretta Molla - http://www.saintgianna.org
• Relics of St. Therese of Lisieux and her parents, the Blessed Louis & Zelie Martin - http://discalcedcarmelitesphila.org/liturgical-schedule/
• The National Centre for Padre Pio (Totally worth the drive in Barto, PA; Diocese of Allentown) - http://www.padrepio.org   (added 5/28/2015)
• Statue of Our Lady Queen of Peace (a large statue of the Blessed Mother, over looking Interstate 295 and the Delaware Memorial Bridge, in New Castle, Delaware; Diocese of Wilmington) http://www.ourlady-de.org

Historic Churches

• Old St. Joseph’s (first Catholic parish, founded in 1733 & founded St. Joseph’s University) - http://www.oldstjoseph.org
• Old St. Mary – (First Cathedral of Philadelphia and built in 1763) - http://www.oldstmary.com
• Holy Trinity Church (built in 1784, now has Latin Mass on Sundays at noon – part of Old St. Mary Parish) - http://www.oldstmary.com & http://www.latinmassphila.org
• St. Augustine Church (same Augustinians who founded Villanova University) – http://www.st-augustinechurch.com
• St. John the Evangelist (former Cathedral of Philadelphia – home to Capuchin Friars with Catholic Gift Shop) - http://www.stjohnsphilly.com
• St. Patrick Church (20th and Locust Streets)
• Sts. Agatha & James Church (next to the campus of UPENN) - http://www.saintsaj.org
• St. Bridget Church (home church to Princess Grace Kelly) - http://www.stbridgeteastfalls.org/2831-2

Catholic Art and other Exhibits

• Philadelphia Museum of Art (the European Art exhibits on the 2nd floor contain lots of Catholic paintings, relics, prayer books, & altars, archways and stonework from real Churches) – http://www.philamuseum.org
• Princesses Grace Kelly’s Bride's Manual: A Manual of Catholic Devotion with Mass for the Marriage Ceremony and the Nuptial Blessing - http://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/152527.html
• NOTE:  Rumor has it that the Museum will also have a special exhibit from the Vatican during the World Meeting.
• La Salle University’s Museum of Art – http://www.lasalle.edu/museum
• Art Museum at the Shrine of the Miraculous Medal (over 500 pieces of Catholic art, by appointment only) - http://www.cammonline.org/index.php?/shrine/art-museum
• Treasury of Faith Museum (of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia) - http://www.ukrarcheparchy.us/index.php?categoryid=23
• The Augustinian Historical Institute (part of Villanova University’s Augustinian Institute, by appointment only) - http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/mission/augustinianinstitute/ahi/collections.html
• Franklin Institute - Vatican Splendors Exhibit (added 8/2/2015) - http://www.worldmeeting2015.org/about-the-event/vatican-splendors/
• Penn Museum - Sacred Writings: Extraordinary Texts of the Biblical World  (added 8/2/2015) - http://www.penn.museum/press-releases/1213-sacred-writings.html

Catholic Colleges in and around Philadelphia

• St. Charles Borromeo Seminary – www.scs.edu
• Villanova University – www.villanova.edu
• St. Joseph’s University – www.sju.edu
• La Salle University – http://www.lasalle.edu
• Rosemont College – http://www.rosemont.edu
• Cabrini College – www.cabrini.edu
• Chestnut Hill College – www.chc.edu
• Gwynedd Mercy University – http://www.gmercyu.edu
• Holy Family University – www.holyfamily.edu
• Immaculata University – http://www.immaculata.edu
• Neumann University – http://www.neumann.edu
• Manor College (an Ukrainian Catholic Junior College) – http://www.manor.edu

Some Eastern Catholic sites

• Cathedral of Immaculate Conception (Cathedral of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia) – http://www.ukrcathedral.com
• St. Maron Maronite Church (Antiochian Rite, Lebanese)  - http://www.saintmaron.org
• St. Mark’s Armenian Catholic Church (Armenian Rite) - http://stmarksarmenianchurch.org
• St. Jude Syro-Malankara Catholic Church - http://www.syromalankarausa.org/content/st-jude-syro-malankara-catholic-parish
• St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Church - http://www.syromalabarphila.org
• St. John Neumann Knanaya Catholic Mission of Philadelphia (Syro-Malabar Rite) - http://www.knanayaregion.us/philadelphia.htm
• Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church (Byzantine Rite, Ruthenian) - http://www.holyghostphila.byzcath.org

Other Philadelphia Catholic entities

• Collegium Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture (at the University of Pennsylvania) - http://collegiuminstitute.org
• Catholic Philopatrian Literary Institute - http://thephilo.org
• American Catholic Historical Society - http://www.amchs.org
• The Augustinian Institute (at Villanova University) - http://www1.villanova.edu/villanova/mission/augustinianinstitute.html
• Masses sponsored by the Office for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Refugees - http://migrantsandrefugeesphilly.org/mass-schedules/
• The Catholic Foundation of Greater Philadelphia - http://www.catholicfoundationphila.org
• Catholic Professionals of Greater Philadelphia - http://www.catholicpros.com/
• National Catholic Bioethics Center - http://www.ncbcenter.org
• Catholic Medical Association - http://www.cathmed.org
• Catholic Leadership Institute - http://www.catholicleaders.org
• Catholic Life Institute - http://www.freeandfaithful.com
• The Faithful Traveler (often seen on ETWN) - https://www.thefaithfultraveler.com and http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thefaithfultraveler

Parish WebStore is CLOSED: How do we now sell Catholic Books from our website?

There used to be a company called Parish WebStore which allowed parishes to sell merchandise online from their own website.  So in essence, the parish had their own online store.  The Parish WebStore was a non-profit company and would fulfill the orders, maintain the inventory, etc.  The parish would simply provide the customers and make commission.  A beautiful idea, but not enough parishes signed up and sales numbers remained low.  So the non-profit closed it's doors a few months ago, leaving many Parish websites with broken WebStore pages (like the this one from St. Joseph's below).

However, there are a few other way for parishes to provide Catholic products without spending money.  For one, Amazon.com!  While a little more setup work is required to make money by using Amazon vs. the old Parish WebStore.  With an Amazon Associates account, parishes can become a distributor of all products sold on Amazon.com, and make commission.

Amazon's "Amazon Associates" program has a lot of advantages too.  In addition to featuring links and product pictures on the main parish site, Amazon has an included program feature called "aStore."  aStore allows to easily create a browsing online store with product categories.

When setting up an aStore, the account admin selects the products from Amazon.com that will be featured in the aStore. But other products not featured (diapers, snow skis, computers, etc) can also be purchased from the aStore, and raise money for the parish.  This is the advantage of Amazon.com vs. other affiliate programs.  If you parish site gets someone to Amazon to browse Catholic books and then they decide to purchase diapers, the parish could still make commission on the diapers.

Example:  Jimmy Akin has an aStore liked to his website which you can visit: http://astore.amazon.com/jimmyakincom-20/

You can sell rosaries, chapel veils, first communion gifts, Catholic CD/DVD/Blu-Rays, Catholic books, booklets, Bibles, etc.  Anything you can find on Amazon can be featured.  Finding products for the store is as easy as searching Amazon.com.  However, when it comes to selecting books, it is important to make sure they are Faithful.  Amazon is not going to indicate whether a book is in line with the Catholic faith or not.

One easy way to locate faithful books is by searching for books sold on faithful sites like Catholic Answers, Lighthouse Catholic Media, Ignatius Press, Sophia Institute Press, Our Sunday Visitor, The Catholic Company, and many other well known & respected Catholic publishers and online stores.  Plus, you can search for books written by well know Catholic authors, such as Patrick Madrid, Dr. Scott Hahn, Tim Staples, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, Steve Ray, Archbishop Charles Chaput, etc.

Another option is becoming an affiliate for The Catholic Company.  This online Catholic store describes the benefits of their Catholic Affiliate Program as follows:

• Earn 10% commission
• 45-day referral period
• Dedicated affiliate manager
• Well-designed, easy-to-use, sophisticated sites
• Very competitive commission rates and program structure
• Special promotions/coupons for affiliates
• Multiple sites and links under one program
• Managed within industry-leading Commission Junction Network

The Catholic Company's 10% commission rate is pretty good.  However, with Amazon 12% is possible.  Plus Amazon offers a ton more products.  In theory, if the parish were to convince parishioners to always use the parish link, people could provide the parish money for ALL their Amazon.com purchase. 

For more information regarding Amazon's aStore and affiliate program, visit https://affiliate-program.amazon.com/gp/associates/join/landing/tools.html.  For more information regarding the Catholic Company's affiliate  prorgram, visit http://www.catholiccompany.com/workWithUs.tr