PROVIDENCE— After consulting the Council of Priests, Most Rev. Bruce A. Lewandowski, C.Ss.R., Bishop of Providence, approved the requests of the pastors, trustees, and finance councils of several parishes in the Diocese of Providence.
Saint Thomas the Apostle Parish will merge into Saint Mary of the Bay Parish, both in Warren. Declining Mass attendance, limited sacramental activity, and the dearth of parish activities indicated the broader mission for which these parishes were established demands a new configuration to better meet the needs of the Catholic faithful in Warren. The Saint Thomas the Apostle Church building will remain available as an additional worship site for Saint Mary of the Bay Parish.
Saint Brendan Parish and Saint Martha Parish, both in East Providence, will merge together into a new, combined Saints Brendan and Martha Parish. The new Saints Brendan and Martha Parish will maintain both current worship sites. Both parishes had been actively collaborating in several areas of ministry and parish administration since 2023 which led to greater vitality in parish life. Saint Brendan Parish was established in 1909 and Saint Martha Parish in 1956.
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Community, a quasi-parish in Exeter, is canonically suppressed. Limited Mass attendance and sacramental activity following the retirement of the community’s longtime priest-administrator, Monsignor Sabourin, necessitated the change. Sacramental records will be faithfully maintained at Saint Bernard Parish in North Kingstown in accordance with Canon 535. Saint Kateri Tekakwitha was established as a quasi-parish by Bishop Thomas Tobin in May 2008.
Parishioners were informed of the bishop’s approval of the proposals at Masses this weekend, at which time the decrees became effective.
