Recently in Around Pennsylvania Category

After just five years as the Catholic bishop in Harrisburg, the Rt. Rev. Kevin C. Rhoades is being transferred to the Fort Wayne-South Bend diocese.

The Fort Bend diocese is smaller than Harrisburg's geographically and in its number of Catholics, but it's home to the University of Notre Dame, widely considered the crown jewel of American Catholic education.

Rhoades, 51, was among the 75-plus U.S. bishops who condemned the university's decision to invite President Obama, who supports abortion rights, to speak at the school's commencement earlier this year -- which now-retired Fort Bend Bishop John D'Arcy skipped out of protest. Rhoades told reporters Saturday, "that's now in the past -- let's move to the future," according to the South Bend Tribune.

Catholic bishops are required to submit their resignation to the pope by age 75, and D'Arcy, 77, did so two years ago. Read more at the jump.

Next year, Luzerne County officials are likely to remove the property-tax exemption from closed churches and religious schools, according to this report.

Pennsylvania's tax code allows exemptions only for "actual places of regularly stated religious worship." The county's assessment director says this condition isn't met when there's no regular worship.

The new policy could significantly affect the Catholic Diocese of Scranton, which is closing 45 churches and some schools in the county. Northampton and Carbon counties took similar steps, after which the Diocese of Allentown filed suit, claiming that the buildings should still be exempt from taxes under a provision forgiving taxes on charities.

Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of the Catholic Diocese of Harrisburg has been nominated to chair one of the 16 standing committees of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops when the bishops meet in Baltimore starting Nov. 16.

Rhoades is in the running for the Committee on Laity, Marriage, Family Life and Youth.

Also up for the seat is Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas, who recently made headlines when he told former Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (a Catholic and supporter of abortion rights -- now U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services) not to present herself for Communion.

The regional presbytery that includes York County has hired a new executive presbyter, the Rev. Dr. Erin S. Cox-Holmes. She starts Jan. 1.

The Rev. Charlie Gross, associate presbyter, has been acting as head of staff for the three-county Presbytery of Donegal since the departure of the Rev. Roger Uittenbogaard.

Cox-Holmes has served as associate general presbyter in the Presbytery of Kiskiminetas (based in Yatesboro, Armstrong County) for 15 years. She attended Earlham School of Religion, a Quaker seminary, and got her PhD in religion/psychology at Graduate Theological Union and her doctor of ministry from Dubuque Theological Seminary.

The town of Brookville, Jefferson County, tried to shut down a church-run homeless shelter citing zoning code violations. Now it's paying the church and its lawyers $100,000 to settle a lawsuit.

"I'm just thankful," the Rev. Jack Wisor, pastor of First Apostles' Doctrine Church in Brookville, Pa., told the NYT. "I knew in my heart that once the truth was exposed, God would show we were doing the right thing."

The church sued the town in November, saying it was infringing on the church's religious liberty by forcing it to stop housing homeless people, according to the report.

The movie "Out in the Silence," which screens at the Strand-Capitol Performing Arts Center in York at 7 tonight, tells the story of what happened when filmmaker Joe Wilson announced his same-sex marriage in two Venango County, Pa., newspapers.

Wilson (at left) is expected at the screening tonight. He has said his mission is to expand public awareness about the difficulties that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people face in rural and small-town America.

Read more about the film and what went into making it.

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh is considering whether to reunite with its neighbor, the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania.

A resolution at the Pittsburgh diocesan convention later this month would call for a committee to study "the potential long-term impact of such reunion on the financial and administrative resources of the two dioceses," according to the Episcopal News Service:

What is now the Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania was carved out of the Pittsburgh diocese in the early 20th century and called the Diocese of Erie. ... The Pittsburgh resolution's explanation notes (that) "In what was the Diocese of Erie (now the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern Pennsylvania), there has been a significant decline of population. In the Diocese of Pittsburgh the Episcopal Church itself has experienced unprecedented change following the 'realignment' and departure from the Episcopal Church of many clergy and congregations."