“This suffering on a daily basis takes an emotional toll, ” said Sandra Michocki, a chaplain at Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore. “In order for it not to swallow us,” she said, chaplains have to remember that God is always with them and “when we’re weary or we’re tired, we show up anyway; that’s all we can do.”

A religious order has withdrawn its request to exhume its founder and transfer some of her remains from England to Philadelphia.

“He ended up mentoring a lot of people,” Father Proffitt said. “He met people where they were. He was one of those deacons who got people past the idea that ‘we have to have a priest for a wedding or a baptism.’ Even in retirement, he continued to faithfully serve the community.”

Father Doyle fields questions about reason for celibacy in the priesthood and a blessing for non-sacramental marriages.

Parishes throughout the archdiocese will be encouraged to share pastoral resources for combatting pornography and to open up conversations about the dangers explicit materials pose to individuals, married couples and families.