Recognizing, Honoring, and Celebrating Our Mother of Consolation Parish for promoting Spiritual and Academic Growth in a Catholic Christian Environment on the Occasion of It's 150th Anniversary: 2005.

WHEREAS, Our Mother of Consolation Parish was established in 1855, to minister to the spiritual needs of residents of the Chestnut Hill section and the surrounding neighborhood; and

WHEREAS, Most of the original parishioners of Our Mother of Consolation Parish were Irish immigrants who settled in Philadelphia after the devastating potato famine that ravaged Ireland in the mid- and late 1840's; and

WHEREAS, Our Mother of Consolation Church was constructed through the initiative of Joseph Middleton and the support of parish volunteers, amidst a wide-spread anti-Catholicism in the United States during that period; and

WHEREAS, Our Mother of Consolation Parish started in 1862 a Catholic elementary school of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, and in 1881 the school opened at it's present location as an institution of Catholic education dedicated to the mission of educating the children of parishioners, as well as others who entrust their children to its care; and

WHEREAS, Our Mother of Consolation Parish has continued to provide Catholic Christian service to a growing and vibrant multi-cultural community in the Chestnut Hill Section of Philadelphia and surrounding neighborhood; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That City Council Hereby Recognize, Honor, and Celebrate Our Mother of Consolation Parish for Promoting Spiritual and Academic Growth in a Catholic Christian Environment on the Occasion of It's 150th Anniversary: 2005.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Our Mother of Consolation Parish as further evidencing the sincere admiration and gratitude of this legislative body.

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