News - December 2024 RSS Feed

God has a plan for each of us! This retreat is for high school seniors, college-aged, and post-college age men interested in or curious about the priesthood. The retreat will be held Friday-Saturday, January 10-11, 2025 at the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence, Providence. To recommend a man for this retreat or if interested for yourself, please contact Rev. Ryan J. Simas, Director of Vocations, fathersimas@gmail.com or Rev. Ryan W. Connors, Director of Pre-Ordination Formation, rconnors@dpvd.org. To sign up please visit https://catholicpriest.com/vocations-college-retreat/ to complete registration form. Call 401-331-1316 with questions.

By Cole DeSantis, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - PROVIDENCE — The Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul was nearly filled to capacity for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the yearly celebration which represents an important day for both Catholics of Latin-American descent as well as Catholics in the Americas more generally, as it is a remembrance of the first apparition of Our Lady to take place in the Western Hemisphere. (PHOTOS: COLE DESANTIS)

“In saying that Mary is ‘a mother to us in the order of grace’ the [Second Vatican] Council stresses that her spiritual motherhood is not limited to the disciples alone, as though the words spoken by Jesus on Calvary: ‘Woman, behold your son’ (Jn 19:26), required a restrictive interpretation. Indeed, with these words the Crucified One established an intimate relationship between Mary and his beloved disciple, a typological figure of universal scope, intending to offer his Mother as Mother to all mankind.”

All are invited to the upcoming Advent Masses, held December 9-24, at our Catholic Cemeteries, click for schedule of dates, times and locations. (Photo: Diocese of Providence) [Note: schedule updated 12-10-24]

Reverend Raymond C. Theroux, 85, Pastor Emeritus of St. John Vianney Parish, Cumberland and brother of former diocesan Vicar General Monsignor Paul Theroux, died on Thursday, December 19, 2024. Please click for arrangements.

By Jennifer Barton, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - Nothing rings in the holiday season like Christmas carols. Although stores and radio stations bombard the average person with Christmas music as soon as the calendar turns to November, Catholic churches will not play sacred Christmas songs until December 24. Many of these beloved carols came from Protestant composers, yet some hymns sung at Christmas Masses have Catholic roots. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. TERESA SCHOOL)

Click for the full schedule.

From Rev. Msgr. Albert A. Kenney, S.T.L., Diocesan Administrator - "Come they told me, pa-rum-pa-pum-pum A newborn king to see, pa-rum-pa-pum-pum" Who doesn’t recognize these words taken from the popular Christmas song, “The Little Drummer Boy?” Thinking about that song brings back childhood memories of my time in elementary school when we had the auditions for the roles in the nativity play. Since I was not blessed with a singing voice, I was hopeful to get one of the acting roles...

By Jennifer Barton, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - BRIGHTON, Mass. — Priestly formation means more than simply a degree, a study of theology. Formation means attending to the whole of the man who puts on the Roman collar every day. Approaches to that formation change over time, particularly after the Second Vatican Council. In 1965, Pope Paul VI released a decree called Optatam Totius, proclaiming the importance of priestly training. (PHOTO: RICK SNIZEK)

By Kathleen Troost-Cramer, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - On Wednesday, Dec. 4, the skull that once housed one of the greatest theological minds in history was on display in Providence for the faithful to venerate, beginning at St. Pius V Church. In a solemn procession, the skull was then transported in its reliquary across the street to the campus of Providence College, where it remained in St. Dominic’s Chapel for public veneration until after the Mass of St. Thomas Aquinas was celebrated. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PROVIDENCE COLLEGE)

By RICK SNIZEK, Executive Editor - PROVIDENCE — The first phase of an exterior renovation of the cathedral residence and convent on Fenner Street is underway, with an anticipated completion date of late March, or early April, weather permitting. (Photo: Laura Kilgus)

By Father Nathan Ricci - When Blessed Pius IX infallibly defined the dogma of Mary’s immaculate conception, he bolstered an ancient Christian axiom: lex orandi, lex credendi. The law of praying is the law of believing. The pope argued that the sacred liturgy transmitted through the centuries this sublime truth about the Blessed Virgin. From the earliest days, the Church prayed to the Mother of God as holy. A Greek hymn from the third century calls Mary the “only pure, only blessed one.” The Catholic treasury of liturgical orations bespeaks the Virgin Mother’s predestination as a singular grace. The evangelist Luke records the angel Gabriel announcing as much: “You have found favor with God” (Lk 1:30)

Laura Kilgus, Associate Editor - PROVIDENCE — For the past 20 years, Keep the Heat On has been a lifesaver for thousands upon thousands of Rhode Island households. Since it began in 2005, the program has continued to provide heating assistance to Rhode Islanders who have exhausted all other public and private forms of assistance. Keep the Heat On has contributed nearly $4.4 million of heating assistance to 17,750 Rhode Island families and individuals to help keep warm during the winter. (Photo: Laura Kilgus)

Advent news from some of our Catholic Schools! (Photo courtesy of St. Margaret School)

By Kathleen Troost-Cramer, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - PROVIDENCE — Weekday mornings at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence tend to be quiet, but the Friday morning after Thanksgiving bustled with energy. (PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. PATRICK CHURCH)

EAST GREENWICH — Our Lady of Mercy School announced that applications are now open for the 2025-26 academic year for students who wish to enroll in its Pre-K program for three-year olds. Applicants must be three by September 1, 2025. (PHOTO: OUR LADY OF MERCY SCHOOL)

Saturday, December 14 beginning at 10:30 a.m. concluding with the 5 p.m. Mass at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Providence. The day features speakers Rev. Msgr. Anthony Mancini, Cathedral Rector, and Sister Elizabeth Castro, HMSP. Our theme will be: "Preparing for Christmas." Advance registration required. Click for more! (Photo: Laura Kilgus)

This past week Providence College and St. Pius V Church hosted a unique event: A chance to see a relic of St. Thomas Aquinas. Typically, as Catholics when we think of relics, we have in our minds a small piece of clothing or bone from a deceased saint. If you went to the Dominican run college, instead of a small piece of St. Thomas Aquinas’s body, you would have discovered his entire skull.

Please join us in prayer on Tuesday, December 10 at 10 a.m. as we offer a Month’s Mind Mass for the intention of Most Rev. Louis E. Gelineau, D.D., J.C.L., S.T.L., the Sixth Bishop of Providence. Bishop Emeritus Gelineau passed peacefully in November at the age of 96 at his home, Saint Antoine Residence in North Smithfield, were he'd also joyfully served as Chaplain for over a decade. The Month’s Mind Mass will be celebrated in the Chapel at St. Antoine with the residents and staff. The celebrant for this special remembrance will be Msgr. Albert A. Kenney, S.T.L., Diocesan Administrator, and the Homilist will be Rev. Timothy D. Reilly, S.T.B., J.C.L., Chancellor. (Photo: Laura Kilgus)

Call 401-272-1010 to purchase a copy of Rhode Island Catholic's annual Christmas Gift Guide.