News - January 2021 RSS Feed

PROVIDENCE — Fifteen years ago, Iris Luzon found herself pregnant and seriously considering an abortion. But she said her grandmother’s prayers and fervent Catholic faith inspired her to choose life for her unborn daughter.

St. Paul writes the following instruction: “First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth.”...

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The head of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities called President Joe Biden’s stance on abortion “religiously and ethically incoherent” during his homily at the opening Mass of the annual National Prayer Vigil for Life Jan. 28.

PROVIDENCE — The 2021 Catholic Charity Appeal is officially underway in the Diocese of Providence. Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has reached out to those who have donated in the past, asking that they — in these especially difficult times — be as generous as they possibly can be once again this year, reminding donors of Pope Francis’ message that “charity is the high road of the journey of faith.”

At the end of a recent media interview that focused on my use of Twitter – which has sometimes been controversial I guess – the reporter asked me, “If Jesus were still on earth, do you think he would tweet?”...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Remembering the Holocaust and its victims is not only an act of solidarity but also serves as a warning to humanity that such horrors could happen again, Pope Francis said.

PROVIDENCE — The Rhode Island General Assembly’s 2021 legislative year will occur in unusual circumstances because of the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, the next several months could still bring movement on several vital issues for Catholics in Rhode Island.

2021 CAL Basketball Update

Our diocesan eNewsletter from January 22...

Pope Francis issued the Apostolic Letter motu proprio Aperuit illis on September 30, 2019, establishing that the Third Sunday in Ordinary Time, celebrated yearly between January 21-27, be observed also as the “Sunday of the Word of God.”

WASHINGTON (CNS) — For the first time since 1974, when it first began, the message of the national March for Life to participants is: Stay home. Like the satellite events connected to the annual National Mall rally and march to the Supreme Court, including the Rose Dinner, a youth conference and the Mass for Life, the rest of it will be online only Jan. 29.

While the Catholic Church celebrates life every month of the year, the month of January is especially important in the celebration of life, because this is also the month when we are reminded of our challenges. It was on January 22, 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled that the constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion. Since then, countless lives have been lost and ruined...

PROVIDENCE — Bishop Thomas J. Tobin has appointed James Jahnz to serve as Secretary for Catholic Charities and Social Ministry for the Diocese of Providence. The appointment, effective January 1, is for a five-year term that may be renewed.

(PROVIDENCE, R.I.) – The Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence has announced that the National Grid Foundation has made another major gift donation for its ‘Keep the Heat On’ heating assistance program. The donation of $250,000 is the eighth major gift that the heating assistance program has accepted from the Foundation and the largest to date, more than double last year’s donation of $100,000.

Diocese of Providence eNewsbulletin from Friday, January 15!

Harrison Butker is the kicker for the reigning NFL Champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. As prominent as that role is, however, Butker has his sights set on a goal far more important than kicking a football and winning a Super Bowl...

The Annual Respect for Life Mass will be celebrated at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 23, 2021 in the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul, Providence. The Most Rev. Thomas J. Tobin, Bishop of Providence, will be the main celebrant, and Rev. Stephen J. Dandeneau will be the homilist for the Mass. The Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe will be on the altar for veneration during Mass.

COVENTRY — Hope has traditionally been the theological virtue most closely associated with the Christmas season: throughout Advent we look forward in joyful expectation to the moment of the Incarnation, the entry of the divine into human history and the beginning of Christ’s mission of salvation.

The Diocesan Offices will be closed Monday.

Rhode Island State Police Detectives Adam Houston and Ian Andrade delivered Christmas presents for a family in need connected through Catholic Social Services of RI’s Christmas program.