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Sister Judy Oliver: Embracing the Mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph

When Sister Judy Oliver, SSJ, was a student at St. Hubert’s High School, she was taught by sisters from several religious orders, but for many reasons, the Sisters of St. Joseph appealed to her.

“I graduated high school in 1965 and worked for a year as a teacher. In 1966, when I entered (the order), I had already made contact with the sisters, and my great aunt was a Sister of St. Joseph,” she recalls. “In Catholic high schools in those days, you had all different kinds of sisters and a small population of lay teachers, so you had Sisters of St. Joseph who lived in one convent, there were 10 Sisters of Mercy, and they lived up the road, and so on.

“But there was something that was attractive about the charism and mission of the Sisters of St. Joseph that I think, for me, was a grace. I don’t know if, when you’re 18, you know that you’re being led by grace, but it really was a grace of invitation for the Sisters of St. Joseph, and as I’ve lived the vocation, I have found more and more that our charism and mission really do fit who I am and who I’ve become.”

February 18, 2019 by Jeff Meade

People

Rob and Vanessa Mullen Mark 10 Years in Charge of 50-Year-Old Campbell’s Place

(Editor’s note: This story by April Lisante first appeared in the Chestnut Hill Local. Thanks to them for allowing us to use it!)

It sits on the corner of Germantown Avenue and Gravers Lane, a familiar local fixture with its burgundy door and unassuming brick façade.

Need a place to go to chat with neighbors over lunch in a cozy booth? A place to charge your phone when there’s a big snowstorm? How about a place to get engaged, or take the kids for dinner? Locals liken it to their very own “Cheers,” but this resto-bar legend is the one-and-only Campbell’s Place, 8337 Germantown Avenue, in Chestnut Hill.

This month, the upscale comfort food eatery known for its Paulie Burgers and cheesy fried Brussels sprouts is celebrating a big anniversary of sorts.

January 10, 2019 by April Lisante

News, People

The Gift That Keeps On Giving: Hibernians’ Christmas Food Baskets for the Needy

For the ninth year in a row, the Hibernian Hunger Project has helped make Christmas dinner a reality for area families in need.

This past Saturday, volunteers gathered at the Shamrock Food Distributors warehouse in Frankford to pack cars, minivans and trucks with heavy cardboard boxes, each one filled to the top with all the fixings for a Christmas dinner—turkey or ham, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, and more—and spread out across the city and, in many cases, well beyond, to deliver the food to needy families.

December 21, 2018 by Jeff Meade

Food & Drink, People

Behind the Bar: Mary Frances Fogg

Mary Frances Fogg (a/k/a Frassee) tends bar at Paddy Whacks Irish Sports Pub, tucked away in a shopping center at Roosevelt Boulevard and Welsh Road in Northeast Philadelphia. She’s pretty much a fixture there at one of the best-known Irish pubs in the city, and she’s one of the most welcoming bartenders you’ll ever want to meet. She has a loyal clientele, and with her welcoming smile and gift for easy conversation, it’s easy to see why.

Frassee is also a member of the Philadelphia St. Patrick’s Day Parade Observance Association executive committee and a 2015 Delaware Valley Irish Hall of Fame honoree. It would be hard to think of anyone better known in the Philadelphia Irish community. When she’s not expertly pouring pint glasses of Guinness at Paddy Whacks, she also has a day job: director of Government Relations and Special Projects at the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

We recently asked her a few questions about that bartending gig. Here’s what she had to say.

December 19, 2018 by Jeff Meade

News, People

Irish Community Mourns the Passing of Liam Hegarty

They say if you want to get something done, ask the busiest person.

That summed up the beloved Liam Hegarty, as one longtime friend put it. Hegarty is well-known for serving on the board of the Irish Immigration Center of Philadelphia and in various leadership roles for the Delaware County (Delco) Gaels, the Gaelic Athletic Association locally and nationally, Irish Network-Philadelphia, and the Irish American Business Chamber and Network—but his influence and rampant creativity touched many other organizations and, say those who knew him best, made them better.

Hegarty, of West Chester, born in Ednamuck, Mountcharles, County Donegal, passed away suddenly earlier this week. Born October 10, 1967, he was just 51. His untimely death leaves many trying to imagine what life will be like without his friendship and dedication.

“He really was a visionary,” says his friend of 30 years, Tom Higgins, who played with Hegarty for the Donegal football club and served on many boards with him, from the Immigration Center to the Delco Gaels. “This whole youth sports organization is basically his design, not just in Philadelphia but around the country. The Liberty Bell championships, which happen a week before the annual Continental Youth Championships for mainly teams on the East Coast—that’s all Liam too. His idea.”

December 6, 2018 by Denise Foley and Jeff Meade

People

Behind the Bar: JohnJoe Devlin

We met up with JohnJoe Devlin, pretty much a fixture at Plough & Stars, a busy, well-known gastropub on Second Street between Market and Chestnut in Old City Philadelphia. If you’re looking for a friendly face and a charming accent behind the bar—he’s from Scotland but from Irish stock, he says—Devlin fits that description to a T.

We asked him a few questions about his day-to-day. Here’s what he had to say.

November 28, 2018 by Jeff Meade

People

“Every AOH Has Someone Whose Number One Concern Is the Six-County Issue … This is Where My Heart Lies.”

Pearse Kerr has all the qualities of a great storyteller: pace and timing; a skill for voices and dialects; a ready laugh that shakes a room.

But most of all, he has stories.

They’re the stories of a young boy who witnessed his first violent death when he was 12 and living in Belfast. He and his family were leaving his grandmother’s house when they saw a British Army foot patrol approaching up the road. In Belfast in the 1970s, it wasn’t an unusual sight. “We were watching them,” he says, “when someone jumped out at them with a handgun and shot one in the back of the head.”

This was life during “The Troubles.”

November 7, 2018 by Denise Foley

People

“Her Humility and Prayerfulness Are a Blessing to Everyone She Encounters.”

Known fondly to many as the “dancing nun,” Sister James Anne, IHM, born Nancy Feerick, is the daughter of Irish immigrants Anne (Caulfield) and James Feerick. She started Irish dancing when she was 7, studying with Sean Lavery School of Irish Dance in West Philadelphia for more than 10 years. She also played the violin, performing on the Will Regan’s Irish Hours, a long-running radio show that debuted before World War II on Philadelphia’s WDAS station. She also served as secretary of the old Irish Musicians Union in Southwest Philadelphia for two years.

Her home was always filled with music, recalls Helen DeGrand, who first convinced Sister James Anne to join the Mayo Association of Philadelphia, where Sister James Anne has served as chaplain for 20 years. “When I first came to this country from Ireland in 1968, some of the first people I met were the Feericks” says Mrs. DeGrand. “They were the party people. She was in the convent then, but [her brother] Jim would be playing the piano and [her brother] Mike would be playing the fiddle. We used to go to the Shamrock Club every weekend and we always saw them at some point.”

November 7, 2018 by Denise Foley

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