“Kolping: The Journey Continues”
37th National Convention Photos
Philadelphia Kolping was delighted to host the 2008 Kolping National Convention in Philadelphia, PA from August 29, 2008 to September 1, 2008.
We thank all who participated!
Please see the links below for more information.
To Philadelphia Kolping Members: We need help in many areas, with committee chairpersons and assistants. We will have many convention meetings in 2008. See your newsletter for dates or check the Events page in this website.
If you are interested in helping in any way, please make an effort to attend this meeting. Your input is appreciated. Our Convention Chairman is Phil Rothenheber.
Friday, August 29, 2008
2:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Registration of delegates and non-delegates
7:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Hospitality Room Reception
6:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
National officers/trustees meeting
Saturday, August 30, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Prayer Service
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Registration of Delegates and Non-Delegates
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Convention Meeting – Delegates
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Non-Delegates free time (tour, etc.)
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Lunch on your own
1:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Afternoon convention Meeting – Delegates
5:30 p.m.
Buses leave Hotel for Kolping House
6:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Dinner & Entertainment at Kolping House/Park
Sunday, August 31, 2008
9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Assemble for 3-4 block walk to Old St. Mary’s Church
10:00 a.m. Mass, Old St. Mary’s Church
12:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Brunch at Hotel – Awards Program
3:00 p.m.
Free Time
Monday, September 1, 2008
8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Closing Convention Mass at Hotel
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m.
Final Convention Meeting
Convention Articles from the Banner
Convention 2008 (from January)
The New Year is a time of rebirth, a time to reflect on the year past and focus on the future that the New Year brings. To the members of Philadelphia Kolping, 2008 is a very special time to look ahead, to look forward to the National Convention. It will be Philadelphia Kolping’s great honor to act as the host of what we are sure will be a wonderful weekend starting Friday, August 29th through the Labor Day weekend end on Monday, September the 1st.
If you have never been to Philadelphia you are surely in for a treat. Philadelphia is not only the home of the first seat of government for the United States it is also home to the Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross House. Only just up the river Washington made his famous crossing of the Delaware to insure this country’s Freedom. To fully allow the National Conventioneers a feel of Philadelphia’s history we have selected the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel right in the heart of Philadelphia’s historic District. The hotel is located at 1 Dock Street (2nd & Walnut) and has 365 guest rooms. Conveniently located just off of I-95, it is the perfect location for out of town guests. Events during the weekend are scheduled at both the Sheraton and also the Kolping House on Southampton Road.
Please take a moment as the New Year begins to check your busy schedules and mark down Philadelphia as your special Labor Day destination. Each month as we get closer to the 2008 National Convention, we will fill you in on the details of the events, times and places in the Banner. Take a moment to look over our article each month. In addition, Kolping Philadelphia thought it might be of interest to Conventioneers to get a feel for our grand city so we will also try to give you a flavor of our city’s history and spirit in the coming issues. Kolping Philadelphia will be dedicating one page of our website to the convention at www.kolpingphilly.com if you need more information you can check our website.
Philadelphia has long been known as the “City of Brotherly Love” and this spirit is deep in the hearts of all the members of Philadelphia Kolping. As Jesus spread his love to all people around the world we in Philadelphia have always felt it our duty to spread Philadelphia’s love of life and liberty to all who visit our city.
Convention 2008: A Journey to Philadelphia
Father Kolping was a man who believed in the great spiritual journey, the kind of journey that led many men and women from Germany to other parts of the world. From its earliest time as a colonial city, Philadelphia has always been a place where journeys end and begin. Many of this country’s founding fathers came to Philadelphia from Europe to start a new life and build a new nation. Likewise, Philadelphia was a starting point for many new immigrants in their quest for a new life in the many cities and towns and countryside of Pennsylvania. From this idea of journeying and the spiritual journey the 2008 Convention draws its theme of “Kolping: The Journey Continues.”
The Convention’s journey will begin in late August this year as Kolping members from around the country converge on the city of Philadelphia and its historic district. Nestled on Dock Street, the Sheraton Society Hill will act as our starting point into a fascinating journey into the spiritual history of the birth of a new nation. Only a short walk from the hotel, conventioneers will step back in time to a nation’s first capital city when they visit Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell. A wonderful spiritual place to visit is Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, a great example of Roman-Corinthian architecture, and one of its founders is Saint John Neumann. In addition to the many sites of the birth of the nation, conventioneers will be only a short distance from Saint John Neumann’s shrine.
Like many of our Kolping members Saint John Neumann’s family was part German. John was a small and quiet boy with four sisters and a brother. He was named after Saint John Nepomucene. An excellent student, John felt drawn to religious life. A Seminarian at Budweis, Bohemia in 1813, he studied astronomy and botany in addition to theological topics. Because Bohemia had an over-abundance of priests, John decided to go to America to ask for ordination and work with émigrés. He walked most of the way to France, then took ship for America.
He was a welcome sight in New York when he arrived because Bishop John Dubois had only 36 priests for the 200,000 Catholics in New York and New Jersey. After being ordained in Buffalo and spending time as a priest in the countryside of New York, he became part of the Redemptorists in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His journey with the Redemptorists led him first to Baltimore and then to Philadelphia where he was appointed Bishop in 1852. His works in Philadelphia led to the building of fifty churches, the beginning of a cathedral, and the opening of almost one hundred schools. He wrote newspaper articles, two catechisms, and many works in German. He was the first American man to be canonized in 1977 by Pope Paul VI.
The shrine of Saint John Neumann is located at 5th Street and Girard Avenue; the same street that houses Independence Hall. It is a great place to begin or continue your spiritual journey with Christ. We, the members of Kolping Philadelphia, look forward to being part of your continued journey.
For more information on the Shrine of Saint John Neumann you can visit the site at http://membrane.com/philanet/neumann/.
37th National Convention: Register for the Journey (March)
March in Philadelphia is a harbinger of springtime, a time when trees start to get their first buds, and crocus flowers start to spring through the frozen winter soil. This year, March is extra special to Philadelphia Kolping because we are sending out our National Convention mailing. In the next week or so you will be receiving a mailing laying out the Convention and all of its activities. The Journey Continues for all of us, starting with this important mailing. Our planning depends on your response. We ask that you give this mailing your utmost consideration and if you do not receive the registration forms by April contact our Convention Chairperson Phil Rothenheber by phone at 215-704-9483 or by e-mail at Rothber@aol.com and ask that the information be sent.
The 37th National Convention schedule will feature many spiritually uplifting and joyous events. Saturday will start with a prayer service followed by Convention meetings at the Sheraton Society Hill. In the evening buses will depart the hotel for a fun filled evening of dining on some of Philly’s finest local fare and dancing to sounds of one our best local German bands, The Kapelle Fellas. Staging of Saturday’s gala event is at the Philadelphia Kolping House on Southampton Road.
As part of our planning we have come across a unique opportunity for those persons attending the Convention but who will not be delegates at the meetings. As a group it would be possible for non-delegates to take part in a trolley tour on Saturday covering many of the historical sites of the city and also a visit to the Saint John Neumann Shrine which is not normally part of any city tour. The tour would cover Independence Hall, where the Declaration of Independence was signed; the Liberty Bell; the National Constitution Center; the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where Rocky scaled those now famous steps; Chinatown; South Street, the hippest street in town; the Franklin Institute Science Museum; and the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. To plan for our own personalized tour we will need to gauge interest as we must commit to a whole trolley. We ask all potential Convention visitors to indicate their interest on the pre-registration form in their mailing. That way we can determine if interest will make this personalized tour feasible. The tour’s cost is around $25.00 per person.
Sunday will be another exciting day with a procession and then Mass at Old St. Mary’s Church followed by a sumptuous Brunch and Awards Program at the hotel followed by plenty of time to explore center city. Old St. Mary’s Church was the second Roman Catholic institution in Philadelphia founded in 1763. It was the site of the first public religious commemoration of the Declaration of Independence and became the first Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Diocese of Philadelphia in 1810. Members of the Continental Congress officially attended services here four times from 1777 to 1781 and the ecumenical George Washington worshiped here on at least two occasions. John Barry, Father of the American Navy was an early subscriber to Old St. Mary’s Church. For more information on Old St. Mary’s Church go to the website www.ushistory.org/tour/tour_stmary.htm.
Philadelphia is a city that has a lot to offer. Nestled between two large rivers the Delaware and the Schuylkill, Philadelphia has one of the largest park systems of any city in America. Whether you like history, sports, nightlife, river cruises, fireworks, Oktoberfest or some of this country’s oldest churches and shrines; you’ll find it all here. Come let Father Kolping’s Journey Continue with us, August 29 to September 1, 2008. Remember to mail in your Registration Forms as soon as possible. ~ Elizabeth and Chris Hess
Philadelphia Kolping’s Journey
through Time and Place
(from April)
The year was 1925; Calvin Coolidge became the first president inaugurated on radio. F Scott Fitzgerald published the Great Gatsby, the Chrysler Corporation was founded and New York City became the world’s largest city surpassing London, England. It was also the year that two men of faith, Leonard Keis and Joseph Betz, co-founded on April 25 the Kolping Society of Philadelphia. They chose as their first headquarters the Volksverein Hall at 1213 N. Randolph Street in St. Peter’s Parish.
Since then Kolping Philadelphia has gone through many changes in both home and spiritual leadership, passing the torch in both a spiritual and physical journey. Perhaps, Philadelphia Kolping’s greatest physical milestone came in the year of 1953 with the opening of a true home at 5400 Rising Sun Avenue, the Kolping House, that became our home for 43 years. With the help of our members and St. Henry’s Church, Kolping Philadelphia found a long-lasting home in our journey into the future.
As our theme for the upcoming National Convention states, “Kolping: The Journey Continues,” our journey also continued with the closing of our home in 1996 on Rising Sun Avenue and the opening of our current location in 1997. Changes in the cost factors of maintaining the property, forced Philadelphia Kolping to change its course. Our new home on Southampton Road in the Greater Northeast section of Philadelphia is on the property of the Philadelphia Donauschwaben Club, and we are pleased to enjoy a friendly and proactive relationship with them.
Today, we continue our Kolping Activities with our Annual Communion Breakfast in April, our Kolping Day in June, a Penny Party and also a Halloween Party and Haunted House in October, and our Christmas Party in December, a tradition since 1925. Throughout the summer we have various picnics and barbecues on the grounds of our Southampton Road home. Our President, Frank Staub, has created a rebirth in our organization with his innovative Sweethearts Golf Outing and Family Hockey Day at the Philadelphia Phantoms; two activities that have brought families and Kolping Members closer together. President Frank is always ready to try out and take on new and exciting events, constantly improving our Kolping experience.
Kolping Philadelphia looks forward to our special event this year: The National Kolping Convention. By now you should have received your Convention sign up information and schedules. Please contact our Convention Chairman, Phil Rothenheber for these if you haven’t received them already. By phone he can be reached at 215-704-9483 or by e-mail you can contact him at Rothber@aol.com. We look forward to continuing our journey with you!
Philadelphia: First in National and Spiritual Gifts (from May)
Philadelphia has long been a city associated with firsts. It was our nation’s first capital. It was the first U.S. city to have a German Historical Society and the first city to be granted a Catholic parish based on a specific national group. Founded in 1789, Holy Trinity Catholic Church was created to serve the growing population of Germans in Philadelphia. It was the first parish church in the United States established specifically to serve a national group.
By the 1780’s the population of Catholic’s in Philadelphia was growing quickly. Of that group the largest amount were Germans. In fact Germans accounted for more than half of all Catholics in the city. Their request to build a separate church and school where they could pray and teach in their native language received approval of John Carroll, Prefect Apostolic, in 1788. Listed as a parish for Germans living in the area bounded by Delaware River in the east, Callowhill Street to the north, the Schuylkill River to the west, and Christian St. to the south, Holy Trinity today is still a German-American Parish and appears almost exactly as it did in 1789. The front of the church is placed perpendicular to Spruce Street so that the altar faces east, a custom of early Catholic churches in America. Holy Trinity’s brickwork is one of the city’s finest examples of Flemish craftsmanship. As another first, Holy Trinity, in 1797, established America’s first Catholic orphanage to care for the many children left homeless by the deadly yellow fever epidemics of the 1790’s.
In Philadelphia, like almost every corner of the world, Germans of the Catholic faith have always been a guiding light of hope and compassion. Father Kolping’s greatest gift to all of us was his dedication to the family and the every day working man. Kolping Groups around the world help families gain roots and enrich their spiritual lives. Holy Trinity church is a shining example of how German Catholic’s have cared for their fellow man.
At Kolping Philadelphia we have always felt of ourselves as a family with open arms. Each of our gatherings is filled with Gemütlichkeit and good cheer, time spent bringing us closer to each other and to God. All Kolping Groups are always in our hearts and our prayers. We ask you all to visit us. Come sit with us. Pray with us. And continue the good works that the many Germans before us have started. The National Convention in Philadelphia on Labor Day weekend is a good place to start. You can visit our website Convention forms and other information at www.kolpingphilly.com.
Holy Trinity Church is only blocks away from the National Convention Hotel. It’s just a short walk with a little time for reflection on God’s gifts to us all.
Tending the Garden of Body and Soul (June)
On April 27th Kolping Philadelphia held its Annual Communion Breakfast in conjunction with the Donauschwaben Club. Since its inception one of the most important dates on our calendar has been the Annual Communion Breakfast. This year’s event was no exception. With the help of the Donauschwaben Club of Philadelphia the day was a grand success.
At eleven AM, Father Engelbert Michel commenced an inspirational Mass in both English and German with the theme of the spring and the Word of Christ. Betty Boyts did the readings. Our Mass included joyous singing of hymns and our recessional was the Father Kolping song.
Following the Mass was a sumptuous catered meal of eggs, French toast, plump pork sausage, crispy bacon, refreshing orange juice and piping hot coffee. Happy conversation filled the Donauschwaben hall as the members of Philadelphia Kolping and the Donauschwaben Club dined together and became a closer as a Family.
In keeping with the theme of spring and new spiritual growth, Kolping Philadelphia was delighted to have Alfred Taubenberger as our speaker this year. Al is a long time member of the Philadelphia German community, chairperson of the Philadelphia Von Steuben Day Parade and was the Republican Candidate for mayor of the City of Philadelphia in 2007. Although his credentials are strong in business, politics and our German-American Steuben Parade, he spoke on his true first love: gardening and soil preparation.
As a graduate of Penn State University with a degree in agronomy, Al’s knowledge of field crops, lawn care, and garden soil preparation is extensive. He did his best to get us all off to a good start with our early spring planting. He included an informative history of land grant agricultural universities, a program started under Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, and of which Penn State is one.
After a rousing applause from the crowd, Al fielded questions ranging from crab grass to the challenges we all face with poison ivy each year. His presentation meshed perfectly with Father Michel’s theme of growth and the cultivation of our spiritual life. Just like we prepare our gardens, we as Christians must prepare our spiritual soul and have the strength to remember the message of Christ’s teachings.
As the spring of the year reminds us, we must prepare the soil, plant the seedlings and water the crops if we have any hope of getting a good harvest. Just months ago Kolping Philadelphia tilled the soil and planted the seed for this year’s Kolping National Convention. We continue to water the crop and tend the soil of this special event. We ask only that you as National Kolping members provide the sun by showing your enthusiasm for our special event during Labor Day weekend this year. The Lord Jesus Christ wants us all to take part in our own spiritual lives. The National Kolping Convention in Philadelphia is a good place to start.
For information on the upcoming convention you can reach Kolping Philadelphia on our website at www.kolpingphilly.com. Just click on the words National Convention to get all the information including the registration forms. We look forward to seeing you all in the fall as the crops become the fruits of our labor!
Kolping Philadelphia Gears up for Great Summer (July)
On Sunday, June 8th Kolping Philadelphia celebrated its annual Kolping Day. The sweltering heat did not deter President Frank Staub and his crew of many from putting together another successful event. With the thermometer topping out at 98 degrees, Kolping Philadelphia set upon the task of preparing the park, cleaning the tables, firing up the grills and setting up and inventorying all the items needed for a successful day.
For many volunteers the process started days earlier under the watchful eye of master chef Bill Repsch. Bill’s efforts ensured that our first recent attempt at running the Kolping food concession was a grand success. He coordinated workers to handle all the cooking prep work. While some peeled and sliced potatoes for German potato salad, Bill turned his attention to the creation of his now famous Salisbury steaks with onion gravy. With true German efficiency, Bill engineered Salisbury steaks of identical size and shape. So popular were his Salisbury steaks, they rivaled the bratwurst as top culinary delight. As always Kolping Day would not be possible without the many hours of work our members spent cleaning, cooking, serving food, and so much more.
Kolping Day was a magnificent success. Our shooting booth was open with a contest for the kids. We enjoyed first rate musical entertainment by the Kapelle Fellas, and the Schuhplatter dancing performed by the GTV Almrausch proved that heat and humidity can be overcome by the shear joy of a party. At the end of a successful day of both work and fun, President Staub toasted all the workers in the Kolping House for their marvelous work leading up to and during the day. Sitting in the comfort of the air conditioned club house we reflected on how special Kolping Day is. President Staub said it best, “The Christian sense of working together was upon us all today. Our Kolping family makes this possible.” We lifted our glasses in salute to a great day.
Kolping Philadelphia is looking forward to hosting all the National conventioneers with the same spirit that was upon us on Kolping Day. So far the response of our fellow Kolping Clubs has been tremendous. We ask that you please keep in mind that final reservations are now due and that in order to be successful we need all your help. Please note that the trolley trip of Old City Philadelphia is filling up rapidly. If you plan to make this part of your Convention weekend please let up know as soon as possible.
In an effort to familiarize Conventioneers with the area here is a brief overview of the sights and restaurants within walking distance of the Sheraton Society Hill Hotel: The National Constitution Center, Independence Hall, Independence National Park, the Arden Theater (live), the Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross’ House, South Street (shopping and restaurants), Old City Art Gallery, Ritz Theater (film), the Customs House, Penn’s Landing, The Independence Sea Port Museum, and the Spirit of Philadelphia river tour. If dining is your pleasure, a wide selection of restaurants is within walking distance. All types of food and price levels are available. To name just a few: Positano Coast (Italian) across the street from the Hotel, City Tavern 138 S. 2nd Street (German chef), Campos Deli on 2nd and Market, Philadelphia Fish & Company on 2nd and Chestnut, The Fork on 2nd between Market and Chestnut, Bookbinders on 2nd Street, and Cuba Libre (Cuban) on 2nd Street.
For Convention forms, Philadelphia tourist links, and other information check out the website at www.kolpingphilly.com. We look forward to a great gathering at the 2008 National Kolping Convention.
Official Visitor Site for Greater Philadelphia www.gophila.com
Once upon a Nation www.onceuponanation.org