News - October 2025 RSS Feed

We hope you all have a fun, safe night! (Image: USCCB)

The Diocese of Providence, through the Office of Catholic Charities & Social Ministry, supports families and individuals in need across Rhode Island with food assistance programs. A variety of food pantries are available throughout the diocese to help you or your loved ones. Each pantry has its own schedule, click to view the full list. We also encourage everyone to support your local food pantry whenever possible, together, we can help ensure no one goes hungry.

Many take it for granted that the “Order of Christian Funerals,” which includes the Reception of the Body, the Vigil Service (Wake), and Holy Mass, will culminate at the Catholic cemetery with the Rite of Committal, prayers at the graveside and interment. More and more today this isn’t the case.

This November, our Diocesan Cemeteries will offer a discount for the interment of cremated remains of any Catholic who has yet to be interred or placed in a columbarium. If you haven’t yet given your loved one a proper burial, please consider this invitation. Please call the diocesan Office of Catholic Cemeteries for further details: 401-944-8383.

Join us Monday, November 3 at various locations in the Diocese of Providence for All Souls Day Masses in our Catholic Cemetery Chapels. Please click for schedule for times/locations.

The triduum of All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day is a big deal in our home, as it is in the Church. We love to celebrate Hallowmass with special treats, books, pumpkins, movies and helping our children to dress up as their favorite Saints. (PHOTO: CHRISTINA FRYE)

Hurricane Melissa intensified into a Category 5 storm, leaving families in Jamaica and southern Haiti to face an immediate and devastating threat. With projected 160 mph winds, extreme rainfall, and storm surge, this hurricane is expected to be the strongest on record to strike Jamaica, causing extensive flooding, landslides, and displacement. Many vulnerable families live in fragile shelters, making the risk to life and essential infrastructure — including health facilities vital for ongoing cholera response—even more severe. Urgent support is critical to help these families prepare for and survive the coming disaster. Catholic Relief Services (CRS), with its decades of experience and on-the-ground teams, welcomes donations to provide lifesaving support, including emergency shelter, clean water supplies, and essential hygiene kits to reach the most vulnerable people. To donate or for more information, visit https://provd.io/CRSMelissa.

By Cole DeSantis, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - BURRILLVILLE — On Monday, Sept. 29, local faithful and parishioners gathered at the Shrine of the Little Flower to take part in a candlelight Rosary procession in honor of the 100th anniversary of the canonization of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The event was particularly meaningful for the members of Our Lady of Good Help Parish in Mapleville. The Shrine of the Little Flower (originally St. Theresa of the Child Jesus Parish) has served the Nasonville section of Burrillville since 1923. It is the oldest parish in the United States dedicated to St. Thérèse, as well as the second oldest worldwide. (PHOTO: COLE DESANTIS)

Last Thursday, the White House announced President Trump’s plan to expand access to In vitro fertilization (IVF). Although the administration will no longer require an executive mandate for employers to provide this coverage – akin to the notorious Obamacare “contraceptive mandate” – President Trump’s promotion of this morally illicit practice does little to assuage pro-lifers.

For over 13 years, the Knights of Columbus Pope Pius XII Council #5295 of Narragansett has supported vocations, raising more than $100,000 in total seminarian scholarships through an annual golf tournament. (PHOTO COURTESY OF PETER FEKETIE)

Next week, trick-or-treaters will wear colorful costumes as part of this nation’s Halloween festivities. The origin of Halloween, however, invites us to remember two important feast days in the Church’s calendar: All Saints Day on November 1 and All Souls Day on November 2.

By Cole DeSantis, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - PROVIDENCE — Religious Latin American folk music celebrating Our Lady filled the square outside the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul on Saturday. The joyful sounds, marking the destination for the second annual Marian Procession, were complemented by the tolling of the cathedral’s church bells in the background. (PHOTO: ANDREW SKONIECZNY)

By Erik Scalavino, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent WARWICK — While scores of guests generated a joyous din with their mingling, chatting, laughing, and cocktail-and-hors d’oeuvre indulging, one beleaguered gentleman sat quietly, unassumingly, in his chair at the back of a table in the farthest corner of this grand ballroom. Anyone unaware of his ongoing battle with cancer might have misinterpreted his behavior as introverted at best, antisocial at worst. Those who knew better understood that his very appearance here proved an accomplishment in itself. And when the surprise moment arrived, his mood immediately improved. (Photo: Erik Scalavino)

By Allison Shinskey, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent - NEWPORT — Each year, when “Return to Camelot” is shown on September 12, hundreds of native Rhode Islanders and tourists from all over the U.S. pour into the City-by-the Sea to relive a storied era, one filled with American royalty and optimism as the post-World War II era unfolded. Their focus is fixed on one of the most significant wedding anniversaries in America’s history. (PHOTO: LISA LARSEN, LIFE, COURTESY OF ST. MARY CHURCH)

The St. Martin de Porres Center 70th Anniversary Gala, "Honoring our Legacy, Embracing our Future" is Saturday, November 1 beginning at 6 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza, 801 Greenwich Ave., Warwick. Become part of this very special 70th anniversary celebration well in advance of the gala NOW...click for all info! Invite and share with your family & friends!

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By Erik Scalavino, Rhode Island Catholic Correspondent SMITHFIELD — Upon gaining legal entry into the United States via Ellis Island in 1908, a Sicilian émigré headed east, first to Bristol, Rhode Island, before eventually purchasing property on Old County Road in Smithfield. Conveniently for this devout Catholic, a small church had been established more than three decades earlier on nearby Homestead Avenue by other local immigrant communities, including those of largely French Canadian and Irish origin. Here, he could happily settle and plant new family roots—roots that would find fertile ground. (PHOTO: ERIK SCALAVINO)

“When Erika Kirk spoke the words on the man who killed her husband: ‘That man…that young man… I forgive him.’ That moment deeply affected me. I have struggled for over 60 years to forgive the man who killed my dad. I will say those words now as I type: ‘I forgive the man who killed my father.’ Peace be with you all.”

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Parishes across the diocese held Life Chain events to commemorate Respect Life Sunday on October 5. Part of the annual observance of 40 Days for Life, Life Chain participants held peaceful and prayerful gatherings to give public witness to the sanctity of human life and for the end of abortion. (PHOTO COURTESY OF JASON CODDINGTON)