The National Shrine of St. Katharine Drexel, in Bensalem,
Pennsylvania, will be closed at the end of this calendar year, its
administrators have announced.The shrine, which contains relics of St. Katharine Drexel, is located alongside the motherhouse of the order she founded, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
The order has been forced to sell properties, primarily because of a drop in the number of members.
The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, who once boasted 600 members, now have only 100, most of them living in retirement.