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.

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Scripture tells us practically nothing about the first years and the boyhood of the Child Jesus...

Have you ever attended a Holy Hour Adoration? Adoration is a quiet time spent in prayer before Jesus present in the Eucharist. Join us today from noon to 1 p.m. at the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul, Providence. This will be offered for Vocations in our Diocese and for the Diocese as a whole. (Diocese of Providence photo)

As we approach the end of this year and the last chance to make a tax-deductible charitable donation to a program that makes a real impact and fulfills a real need for Rhode Islanders, please consider a donation in any amount in support of the Keep the Heat On fund.

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)

A Child is born to us! A Son is given to us. And He will be our ruler. He will be called, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. - Psalm 89:2 (Image: USCCB)

"...the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.  For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.  She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” - Matthew 1:20-21 (Image: USCCB)

“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.

“The promises of the Lord I will sing forever, proclaim your loyalty through all ages.” – Psalm 89:2 (Photo: RI Catholic)

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)

For December 24, the fourth Sunday of Advent, Mr. Adam Habershaw, Seminarian at St. John's in Boston and parishioner at St. Paul Parish, Cranston, explains "The Nativity Story."

Click for the full schedule.

In observance of Christmas and New Years, the diocesan Chancery Office Building, located at One Cathedral Square, Providence, will be closed Monday, December 23 through Wednesday, January 1, reopening Thursday, January 2, 2025 at 8:30 a.m.

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)