St. Pius V Church kicks off centennial year with special events

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PROVIDENCE — As St. Pius V Church prepares to celebrate its 100th anniversary in October 2018, parishioners have begun commemorating the occasion and will continue with a year of centennial events culminating in an anniversary Mass next fall.

The events kicked off on Sunday, October 15, with an inaugural Mass celebrated by Father Kenneth Letoile, prior provincial of the Province of St. Joseph. Father Letoile, a former parishioner and alumnus of the parish school, recounted the parish’s history and encouraged parishioners to live out the church’s legacy as influenced by their patron saint, the city of Providence and the Dominican order.

“For one hundred years our brothers and sisters have followed the example of St. Pius V and have experienced in this parish a peace the world cannot give,” he said during the homily.

St. Pius V Church was founded in 1918 as a Dominican parish located within the Diocese of Providence. From the beginning, the parish had a close relationship with Providence College, incorporated only a year earlier on land provided by Bishop Matthew Harkins. The parish celebrated its first Mass on October 27, 1918, in the chapel of Harkins Hall on the Providence College campus, an arrangement that would continue until a new church building could be completed in 1929.

As the city of Providence developed during the twentieth century, St. Pius V developed with it, growing to serve an area that had once been a largely affluent suburban outpost but now became heavily populated with families of all income levels. Today, the parish serves an economically diverse population among the city’s Elmhurst, Smith Hill, Mt. Pleasant and Valley neighborhoods, as well as parishioners from outside the city.

“Ours, of course, is a city parish, which at this time makes these words of St. Paul from today’s second reading apt: ‘I know how to live in humble circumstances; I know also how to live with abundance,’” said Father Letoile.

He also reminded those gathered of the preaching charism of the Dominicans and the call to all members of the community, not only the Friars, to live this charism through their involvement with the parish and beyond.

“All of us who wear [St. Dominic’s] white habit strive to continue his mission today. But I would like to expand our usual understanding of what it means to be a preacher to include all of us, ordained, consecrated religious and laity alike, who call St. Pius our spiritual home,” he said.

“To be a Dominican parish, then, means to realize our call to serve our king by extending his invitation to all we meet.”

Other centennial events during the upcoming year will include the recording of oral histories by parishioners in November and December, a parish workshop and centennial dinner and dance in April, the honoring of parish veterans in May, the gathering of a parish recipe book and the release of a centennial publication. The year will conclude with an anniversary Mass on October 14, 2018.

To view the full schedule of centennial events, please visit www.spvchurch.org/centennial-events.