Beginning Thursday, March 6 and concluding on Spy Wednesday, April 16, St. Pius V, 240 Eaton St., Providence will offer a “House of Mercy” for the Jubilee Year of Hope. This will feature confessions, offered every weekday from 11- 11:50 a.m., before the noon Mass, and each evening from 7-8 p.m. ​All are welcome!

"Of all the people I have known with a true devotion and particular veneration for St. Joseph, not one has failed to advance in virtue; he helps those who turn to him to make real progress. For several years now, I believe, I have always made some request to him on his feast day, and it was always been granted; and when my request is not quite what it ought to be, he puts it right for my greater benefit."— St. Teresa of Avila - - The USCCB has composed this novena to be prayed yearly on March 10-18, the nine days that precede the Solemnity of Saint Joseph on March 19. Each day of the novena is accompanied by a reflection video from bishops across the United States. (Photo: Laura Kilgus)

Click for more.

In our Lenten Reels Series, Rev. Albert P. Marcello, III, J.C.D., Chaplain at RI Hospital, Defender of the Bond, and Judge in the Diocesan Tribunal explains.

The 2024-2025 CAL Basketball Playoffs will be played throughout the Diocese on Saturday, March 8, Sunday, March 9 and Saturday, March 15th! Good Luck to all the teams competing! To see the full list of brackets for each of our 16 boys and girls divisions, click the title above More at http://www.calsportsri.org/

By RICK SNIZEK, Executive Editor - PROVIDENCE — Growing up, seeing the tables in front of the church missals for calculating the date of Easter captivated a young, curious and inquisitive future priest, so much so that it would one day inspire him to craft a 250-page academic treatise on the subject. (PHOTO COURTESY OF FATHER ALBERT A. MARCELLO III, J.C.D./Ph.D.)

By Msgr. Albert A. Kenney - A couple of weeks ago, I went food shopping at Stop & Shop. Per usual, I started in my favorite aisle, the one all the way to the right of the store, particularly known as the ice cream aisle. As I stood there deciding which pint of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream to get, I heard a voice yell, “Hey Msgr. Kenney is that you?” Immediately I turned around and grabbed a container of yogurt. (Photo: Diocese of Providence)

By Laura Kilgus, Associate Editor - PROVIDENCE — Repentance, reconciliation and renewal — those three “R’s” are going to make all the difference in our spiritual journeys this Lent, Bishop Emeritus Thomas J. Tobin told the faithful gathered for Holy Mass on Ash Wednesday in the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence. (PHOTO: LAURA KILGUS)

Guidelines for Lent

On Ash Wednesday Catholics begin the forty-day season called Lent which precedes the celebration of Easter, Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Resources here for you as we journey these 40 days. 

The 40 Days for Life Spring Campaign begins on Ash Wednesday, March 5, with a Kickoff Vigil at the Rhode Island State House this afternoon from 3 to 4 p.m. The 40 Days for Life Spring Campaign runs from Ash Wednesday through Sunday, April 13, with vigil hours every day at the public right-of-way outside the Planned Parenthood Providence abortion facility, 175 Broad St. The local campaign is coordinated by Rhode Island Right to Life and the diocesan Office of Life and Family Ministry. Click to sign up or learn more!

Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, D.D., Bishop Emeritus, Diocese of Providence, will celebrate Holy Mass at Noon on Ash Wednesday, March 5 in the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul in Providence. Bishop Tobin will bless and impose ashes on the foreheads of the faithful as a visible reminder of our mortality and need for repentance. All are welcome!

5 p.m. at St Patrick Church, Providence

In a column he wrote for the Rhode Island Catholic a couple of years ago, our Bishop at the time, Thomas J. Tobin, offered a reflection on the subject of what we wear, and how what we wear often reflects, as he put it, “our belief or our loyalty.” What we wear, in other words, is often a sign of something deeper. He began by commending the Catholic school students who had been kicked out of the Smithsonian Museum a few weeks earlier for wearing hats that said, “Rosary Pro-Life.” He commended those students for having worn something that was a sign of “their commitment to life.”

By Jennifer Barton, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - NARRAGANSETT — Metaphysics teaches that the properties of being — truth, oneness, goodness, and beauty — are inseparable. Where one exists, the others do as well. Beauty is found throughout the Catholic world in art, architecture and song. For centuries, sacred art was used to teach biblical histories to those who couldn’t read. More importantly to modern mankind, sacred art draws the eye and the heart to focus on God. (PHOTO COURTESY OF SHARON CLOSSICK)

In our Lenten Reels Series, "Your Lent Questions, Answered," Father Christopher Murphy, a priest from the Diocese of Providence, answers your Lent Question: "Why Ashes?"

Providence College recently celebrated the blessing of the Our Lady of Lourdes Oratory in the Ben Mondor Center for Nursing and Health Sciences on campus. (PHOTO: PACHECO PORTRAITS LLC, PROVIDENCE COLLEGE)

By Father Michael J. Najim Recently, Pope Francis wrote to the United States bishops about the issue of immigration. His letter garnered both support and criticism among Catholics. Without a doubt, immigration is a politically charged, emotional issue. I am not a politician; however, as a Christian and Catholic priest, I’d like to share some spiritual thoughts on this topic. I want to be clear: I do not advocate for open, unchecked borders. The Church upholds the rights and duty of a nation to protect its citizens and its sovereign borders. I do, however, feel called to appeal for deeper compassion.

This year, Lent begins on March 5 as we observe Ash Wednesday. In a particular way during Lent, we are asked to devote ourselves to the spiritual and corporal works of mercy that "remind us that faith finds expression in concrete everyday actions meant to help our neighbors in body and spirit." Pope Francis reminds us, "God's mercy transforms human hearts; it enables us, through the experience of a faithful love, to become merciful in turn."

By RICK SNIZEK, Executive Editor - PROVIDENCE — Catholic theologian, leading public intellectual and author George Weigel, renowned as an author or editor on more than 30 books, including the New York Times bestseller “Witness to Hope” (1999), and its sequel, “The End of the Beginning” (2010), spoke to a group of those in formation for the priesthood at Our Lady of Providence Seminary last Thursday.