Saint’s shrine given national designation
BENSALEM, Pa. — The Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel in Bucks County has been designated a national shrine by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Bensalem shrine where St. Katharine is entombed receives about 20,000 visitors annually.
St. Katharine built the shrine in 1893 after founding the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament to serve poor and socially oppressed members of the black and American Indian communities.
Mother Drexel, as she was known, was born into a wealthy Philadelphia family in 1858. She was canonized in 2000.
Religious group sues over student fees
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A federal lawsuit alleges that the University of South Carolina discriminates against student religious groups because the school does not give them activity fees available to other student organizations.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled more than a decade ago that universities cannot refuse to give activity fees to religious groups, according to the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom and the Christian Legal Society, which filed the suit.
The groups are representing the university’s Christian Legal Society chapter, which says it was denied fees in February.
