On Jan. 18, Thousands of people turned out for the Chicago March for Life, which started with a rally at Federal Plaza, 50 W. Adams St., and proceeded to the state of Illinois’ James R. Thompson Center, 100 W. Randolph St., where there was another rally.

Many teens and young adults then boarded buses for the national March for Life in Washington, D.C.

On Jan. 30, Cardinal George received the Gaudium et Spes Award, the highest award the Knights of Columbus bestow, for his intellectual contributions to the church and for his “witness to faith.”

The second Family Congress for Polonia took place at 15 parishes in the Archdiocese of Chicago between Feb. 5 and Feb. 16.

Catholic Charities dedicated its 19th senior residence, Porta Coeli, in the South Deering neighborhood, on Feb. 10.

Catholic Theological Union launched its Center for the Study of Consecrated Life Feb. 12, during the Year of Consecrated Life, which began on Nov. 29, 2014, and ends Feb. 2, 2016.

Four schools — St. Pascal, Our Lady of Victory, St. Tarcissus and St. Cornelius — announced Feb. 20 that they would move forward with plans to merge into one regional school. It was later decided that the school would have two campuses and be called Pope Francis Global Academy.

Holy Cross Father Theodore Hesburgh, longtime president of the University of Notre Dame, died Feb. 26.

The archdiocese held its Festival of Forgiveness Feb. 27- 28, when 26 churches participated in efforts to make the sacrament of reconciliation available for 24 hours straight.

Cardinal Edward Egan, a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago and former archbishop of New York, died March 5.

On March 13, while leading a penance service, Pope Francis announced the Jubilee of Mercy, to begin Dec. 8, 2015, and run through Nov. 20, 2016.

Cardinal George died April 17 at the Residence. Born in Chicago on Jan. 16, 1937, he joined the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and was ordained a priest on Dec. 21, 1963. He taught philosophy at the university level and served his community as its vicar general before being named bishop of Yakima, Washington, on July 10, 1990. He was named archbishop of Portland, Oregon, on April 30, 1996, and archbishop of Chicago on April 5, 1997. He was elevated to the Sacred College of Cardinals on Feb. 21, 1998. He served as president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops from 2007 to 2010. He retired Nov. 18, 2014, when Blase Cupich was installed as the archbishop of Chicago. He was treated for bladder cancer in 2006, and the cancer resurfaced in his liver and kidneys in 2012 and then again in his kidney in 2014. He announced that doctors had exhausted treatment options in January 2015.

His galero was raised to the ceiling of Holy Name Cathedral, joining the red hats of Chicago’s five previous cardinal- archbishops, on May 17.

The archdiocese welcomed 14 new priests, who were ordained May 16 at Holy Name Cathedral. Fifteen men also were ordained as permanent deacons at two Masses in May.

Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero was beatified May 23 in San Salvador. Catholics in Chicago celebrated with a Mass the same day at Holy Name Cathedral.

Archbishop Cupich sealed the Holy Door at Holy Name Cathedral on June 12, in anticipation of it being opened at the beginning of the Jubilee of Mercy.

The Holy See released Pope Francis’ encyclical “Laudato Si’” on June 18, sparking efforts in the archdiocese to conserve energy and water and to learn more about how to respect the earth, “our common home.”

Pope Francis gave palliums — a special vestment for archbishops — to Archbishop Cupich and all the other newly appointed archbishops in St. Peter’s Basilica on June 29. In a departure from previous years’ practice, the pope did not invest the archbishops with the palliums; rather, they brought them to their own archdioceses where they were invested by papal representatives.

Father Robert Barron was named an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles on July 21. He was installed Sept. 8. Ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Chicago in 1986, he went on to found Word on Fire Catholic Ministries, which produces online, print, radio and television media content, and had served as president and rector of University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary since 2012. Father John Kartje replaced him as rector/president of Mundelein.

On July 24, Archbishop Cupich announced plans to benchmark all church buildings, evaluating them for energy efficiency, water usage and greenhouse gas emissions, in effort to act in the spirit of “Laudato Si’.”

Catholic leaders joined with their peers from other faith traditions in praying for peace July 31. The prayer service, hosted by the Council of Religious Leaders of Metropolitan Chicago, came in the midst of another violent year in the city, in the United States and around the world.

Archbishop Cupich was invested with the pallium by Apostolic Nuncio Carlo Maria Vigano at Holy Name Cathedral Aug. 23.

Pope Francis visited the United States Sept. 22-27 in conjunction with the World Meeting of Families, held in Philadelphia Sept. 21-27. His visit included the canonization of Junipero Serra, a visit to the White House and an address to a joint session of Congress in Washington, D.C.; an address to the U.N. General Assembly, a visit and prayer service at the 9/11 memorial and Mass at Madison Square Garden in New York; and an address to the World Meeting of Families and outdoor Mass in Philadelphia. He also visited a Catholic Charities meal program, a prison and an inner-city Catholic school. Chicago parishes and schools marked the visit in a variety of ways, including a local family festival in Crestwood hosted by Incarnation Parish.

Archbishop Cupich was a delegate to the Extraordinary Synod on the Family that met in the Holy See Oct. 5-24. The synod fathers met to discuss “the pastoral challenges to the family in the context of the new evangelization,” and among the topics that seemed to raise the most interest was the possibility of some Catholics who were divorced and remarried without an annulment receiving Communion.

Jim Rigg became the new superintendent of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Chicago on Oct. 5.

A fire caused severe damage to the Shrine of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, 6415 S. Woodlawn Ave., in the early morning of Oct. 7. The roof of the historic building, which was once St. Clara and then St. Gelasius Church, caved in. Members of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, which has operated the shrine since 2004, are holding services in temporary quarters while they make plans for the future.

The major relics of St. Maria Goretti visited the Archdiocese of Chicago Oct. 12-14. The relics were at St. John Cantius, 825 N. Carpenter St.; St. John Vianney, Northlake; and St. Francis of Assisi, Orland Park. Thousands of pilgrims came to venerate the relics of the youngest canonized Catholic saint and hear her message of radical forgiveness.

Dolores Madlener, longtime author of Church Clips, retired after working for the archdiocesan newspaper for 37 years. She also profiled every parish in the archdiocese in the “Parish Pride” series and wrote the popular “Five Minutes with Father” and “Conversations with the Consecrated” features.

On the Feast of All Saints, Nov. 1, St. Martha Church in Morton Grove was designated the Shrine of All Saints. The church is home to more than 1,500 relics.

Tyshawn Lee, a 9-year-old boy, was shot and killed execution style on Nov. 2 on the South Side. His death became a symbol of the gun violence plaguing the city. His funeral was celebrated at St. Sabina Church Nov. 10. On that day, there had been 428 murders in Chicago in 2015.

Pope Francis Global Academy was formally announced on Nov. 7 as the new name of the merging Catholic schools on the Northwest Side.

Pope Francis opened the Holy Door at St. Peter’s Basilica to mark the beginning of the Jubilee of Mercy on Dec. 8; Archbishop Cupich opened the Holy Door at Holy Name Cathedral Dec. 13.

Interfaith leaders gathered at Holy Name Cathedral Dec. 8 to pray for the city of Chicago in the wake of unrest following the release of a video that showed Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting 17-year-old Laquan Mc- Donald 16 times Oct. 20, 2014. Police had been called about someone breaking into vehicles; McDonald was carrying a three-inch knife when he was shot, and allegedly used it to stab the tire of a police vehicle. However, the video appears to show him attempting to walk away from police when he was killed. The video was released Nov. 24, the same day Van Dyke was charged with first-degree murder. In the wake of the video’s release, police Superintendent Garry McCarthy was fired and the head of the Independent Police Review Authority, Scott Ando, resigned. The Justice Department announced a civil-rights investigation into Chicago Police Department practices Dec. 7.