PROVIDENCE — Ask any homeowner and they’ll confirm that there’s always something to do around the house. Yet, most still hold full-time jobs and other responsibilities outside their homes. Likewise, any parish priest will likely agree that his list of chores around the church never ends. If anything, it continues to grow, and still, many priests assume additional duties beyond their parochial ones.
The current pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in East Greenwich, for example, doubles as Director of The Rhode Island Catholic Conference. In the latter role, Father Bernard A. Healey spends considerable time in Rhode Island’s capital city — on Smith Hill, to be precise. Father Healey’s diocesan title may not immediately make evident what it is he does there, so he explains, “I’m a registered lobbyist. I advocate and educate on public policy issues for the Catholic population of Rhode Island before the General Assembly and other elected officials.”
Few, if any, in the Diocese of Providence, therefore, are better equipped than Father Healey to help readers of this publication understand which pieces of legislation debated and voted upon by our state’s General Assembly in their most recent legislative session are of particular relevance to Catholics. With the 2026 legislative session having recently ended, Father Healey took some time to examine the most consequential bills that were either signed into law by the Governor after passing both chambers (Rhode Island’s Senate and House of Representatives) or that remain in various stages of the process.
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS REMOVED FOR ABUSE CASES
Last month, Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee signed into law a high-profile bill regarding childhood sexual abuse and the statute of limitations. It removes the statute of limitations which heretofore prevented proven survivors of sexual abuse by by perpetrators in Rhode Island decades ago (and other people who claim to have been) from filing civil lawsuits against any entities that they allege had knowledge of those offenses, neglected to act on them, and/or worked to conceal their existence.
The new law provides a two-year window, which opened on July 1, 2026, for potential plaintiffs to sue such organizations, including the Diocese of Providence as well as other non-profits and public entities. Despite an initial question of its constitutionality, the measure passed in the Rhode Island House with only four votes in opposition.
“The Senate wanted to take it to the state Supreme Court to get an advisory position,” Father Healey recalls, “but they changed their minds, amended the bill, and it unanimously passed in that chamber.”
Similar legislation in other states, Father Healey points out, have bankrupted dioceses there, adding that “the Archdiocese of New York is now considering an $800 million settlement and asking for money from its parishes. We [in Rhode Island] settled for more than $20 million in the early 2000s, but the sober reality is that this new bill does nothing to protect children or the vulnerable from exploitation and abuse, despite what the sponsors of the legislation claim. It does little to serve the cause of justice or the common good of our state or prevent child abuse in any way.”
What recourse, then, does the Diocese of Providence have at this point?
“To defend itself legally,” Father Healey states, “and to argue the constitutionality of the bill.” In the meantime, he says, while it continues to take proactive steps to protect its most vulnerable members, the Catholic Church in Rhode Island waits to see if, when, and how many lawsuits are filed against the Diocese of Providence as a result of this bill’s passage.
“There’s no way,” Father Healey emphasizes, “that we can ever rewrite or erase the sad history of the suffering caused by sexual abuse by Catholic clergy. But this bill should not diminish the great efforts of thousands of people who have stood together and responded effectively to that crisis—dedicated clergy, law enforcement, Catholic school teachers, involved parents of students, community leaders, and other faithful members of our diocesan community who have been working and continue to work together to achieve safe environments throughout our diocese today.”
PHYSICIAN-ASSISTED SUICIDE
Euthanasia for human beings has long been a divisive subject, even among faithful Catholics. Throughout the first six months of 2026, the Diocese of Providence and other like-minded local and national organizations made known their vehement opposition to a physician-assisted suicide bill that was introduced in the General Assembly and passed by the House of Representatives.
Supporters of what’s known as the Lila Manfield Sapinsley Compassionate Care Act argue it gives ailing people humane options at the end of their lives, but Father Healey counters, “It’s immoral. For us, it’s a moral and religious issue, but for society on the whole, it should be an issue about common sense and the common good. It’s unfortunate because it impacts the poor, the handicapped, disabled, and minority communities more than anybody else as they are perceived to be an economic burden. Dying is a matter of dollars for healthcare companies, and it’s easier and less expensive to put people to death rather than to try to make them comfortable and die with actual dignity.”
Father Healey adds that the General Assembly has historically sought to reduce suicide rates among other populations, including military veterans and younger people. He further notes that many end-of-life patients are in such a condition that they’re often unaware of it and thus incapable of making their own decisions.
“Senate President Valerie Lawson,” he continues, “said that she’d guarantee a floor vote on it next year. So, there’s still time to educate the state, not only Catholics, but all people of goodwill, about the real harmful effects of this. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is a moral issue with widescale impact of the most vulnerable in our state.”
HUMAN COMPOSTING
Another end-of-life issue being considered on Smith Hill goes by the colloquialism “human composting,” a practice Father Healey decries as “ghoulish.” Overseen by licensed funeral providers, these processes—officially referred to as Natural Organic Reduction and Water Cremation—would mix human remains with soil, wood chips, and other organic material in the first instance and a combination of water, chemical agents, and heat in the other, essentially turning deceased people into fertilizer.
Proponents insist these are more environmentally friendly options than traditional burials and cremations. The measure has passed the House for three consecutive sessions, including 2026, yet continues to stall in Senate committees. “Another piece of legislation that neither makes common sense nor serves the common good,” remarked Father Healey. “Yet, it passed the House 46 to 17, with 12 not voting.
“We oppose those practices because the bill would basically use home gardening composting systems for human remains, which could then be dispersed in public locations. The Church teaches that we treat with profound dignity the human body. It’s not a disposable commodity. This bill doesn’t properly respect the body or the dead in terms of burial or even honoring people’s cremains.”
STATE BUDGET AND EDUCATION ITEMS
In early June 2026, Gov. McKee signed Rhode Island’s Fiscal Year 2027 state budget, a record-setting $15.2 billion package. “It’s a billion-dollar increase from last year,” Father Healey observes.
“Many of our diocesan programs that help the poor, elderly, and disadvantaged receive state grants, and they were funded. The budget also funded the state’s tuition tax credit, and fully funded the textbook loan program, as well as the bussing for private and parochial schools, but they spent more money and raised taxes, so, it’s a mixed bag on the budget.”
School choice initiatives also suffered defeats in this most recent legislative session, according to Father Healey. “The Federal Education Freedom Tax Credit Program (a.k.a. tax credit scholarship program) could mean potentially millions and millions of dollars for the state of Rhode Island, but unfortunately, the governor has to opt in, with the General Assembly having to pass an authorization first. The governor was asked to veto that [authorization] bill and he did not. He also did not veto the cap on the charter schools. This really adversely affects the working poor in terms of how they want to educate their children. They’re the ones most interested in these school choice programs. Economically poor families are held hostage in failing public schools when you eliminate these kinds of tax credit programs and charter schools.”
From now through the end of 2026, Rhode Island’s General Assembly will not be in session, as it traditionally adjourns for the second half of each calendar year. The 2027 session will convene beginning in January. Until then, Father Healey encourages Catholics to research further these subjects and others, as well as the elected officials deciding them.
“It behooves Catholics to become politically involved,” he maintains, “to find out who they’re voting for, to hold their legislators accountable—legislators who continue to pass laws that serve no common good, make no common sense, and only seek to promote a very radical ideological agenda.”
