News - March 2025 RSS Feed

We had our second Glorify evening down at St. Pius X in Westerly. Thank you to Fr. Mahoney for hosting us! It was a wonderful evening of Adoration and reflection with a special talk from young adult, Dylan Roche, who spoke about the importance of leaving everything behind to follow Christ. Hannah Kline, David Pagliarini, and Arianna Hamill led us in beautiful music that aided in our worship of Our Lord, especially during this Lenten season.

We held a fifth Confirmation retreat of 2025 where 8 parishes were represented: Our Lady of Fatima, St. Rita, St. Timothy, St. Barnabas, St. Michael, St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, Our Lady of Grace, and St. John Paul II. This year's theme is Signed, Sealed, and Sent. Through engaging talks and activities, we will be learning about the Rite of Confirmation and what will actually take place on Confirmation day. We will have many opportunities for prayer and reflection, especially time before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

Hundreds of young athletes competed in the Catholic Athletic League Basketball Tournament. The games took place between March 8-9 and March 15-16 at Catholic high schools in the area. Read more in the RI Catholic article here: https://www.thericatholic.com/stories/young-athletes-showcase-skills-and-sportsmanship-on-the-court,14790.

Fr. Thomas Macdonald taught the March class for the Certificate in Catholic Theology program. The topic for the class was "The Liturgy and the Sacraments." The students benefitted from Fr. Macdonald discussing the concepts of liturgy, worship, sacrifice, as well as an overview for each of the seven sacraments of the Church. Fr. Macdonald is a priest of the Archdiocese of Boston and currently serves as Vice-Rector of St. John's Seminary in Brighton, Massachusetts.

Each year, on the first Sunday in Lent, catechumens and candidates who are in the OCIA process at their parish and looking to enter the Catholic Church head to the Cathedral for the Rite of Election and of the Call to Continuing Conversion. This year we had Bishop Robert C. Evans preside over the rite and had 97 catechumens and 110 candidates. See the full Rhode Island Catholic coverage here.

Our fourth Confirmation retreat of 2025 was held at Rejoice in Hope Center where 6 parishes were represented: St. Mary, St. Gregory the Great, Our Lady of Grace, St. John Paul II, and St. Rita, and St. Timothy. We had many young adults present to help with facilitation of small groups and engagement. It was wonderful to see such faithfulness and sincerity modeled to the young people in attendance. This year's theme is Signed, Sealed, and Sent. Through engaging talks and activities, we will be learning about the Rite of Confirmation and what will actually take place on Confirmation day. We will have many opportunities for prayer and reflection, especially time before the Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

On Saturday, March 1st, young adults from across the Diocese of Providence gathered for a day of prayer, reflection, and community at the third annual Young Adult Lenten Retreat. Participants heard talks from Fr. Josh Barrow and Mrs. Lisa Kline about the meaning of suffering and how to suffer well as disciples of Christ. Young adults also had the opportunity to go to spiritual direction, venerate a relic of St. Helena, and discern Lenten commitments in preparation for the season ahead.