Thursday, May 9, 2013
"An event like a 5K is right up his alley, although he would probably joke that it should be on ice!" says Tom's dad, Joe Cavanagh.
Tom Cavanagh, who died two years ago at age 28, was the sort of hockey player and person who routinely reached out to the those less able to help them along. The scholarship fund at Our Lady of Mercy School in Tom's memory is a way he is able to keep reaching out, to help some lucky students as they pursue their academic goals. On Saturday, May 18, the Inaugural Thomas Cavanagh Scholarship Run will take place in and around downtown East Greenwich. As his father, Joe Cavanagh, said about his very athletic son – "An event like a 5K is right up his alley, although he would probably joke that it should be on ice!" Tom, the middle child of Joe and Carol's nine children, attended OLM School. He graduated from Toll Gate High School, Phillips …
Thursday, May 2, 2013
They won the state Science Olympiad contest in April for the sixth time in eight years.
Our Lady of Mercy School's Science Olympiad team has done it again – for the sixth time in the past eight years, it has won the Rhode Island Science Olympiad middle school championship. But it's more than that. The OLM team dominated the competition, placing fourth or higher in 21 out of the 23 events. The team, made up of 20 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students, will travel to Dayton, Ohio, for the national competition, which begins May 18. With 8 gold, 3 silver, and 4 bronze medals on the state level, OLM placed fourth or higher in 21 out of 23 events and medaled (placed third or better) in 15 events. "I am extremely proud of this team and all of their hard work throughout the year in preparation for the state Science Olympiad …
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Several said they were happy with the Argentine's habits of simple living and his devotion to the poor.
At age 76, he's older than they thought, but he's devoted to the poor, which they like. In a survey of a few East Greenwich Catholics Wednesday over the choice of Argentine Jorge Mario Bergoglio as the new Pope – Francis I – reaction was generally positive. "We’re all very pleased," said Jeanne Photopoulos, a parishioner of Our Lady of Mercy Church who had arrived at the church Wednesday evening for a Lenten program. "I think he’s a very humble man, a prayerful man. He’s for the poor, for the common man. He’s an intelligent man. That balances him," she said. "The fact that he’s a man of the people, he lives in a small apartment, I think he’s going to be someone to reach out to the real mission of the church: compassion and to reach out …
Monday, February 11, 2013
OLM pastor Fr. Healey urges Catholics to respond with faith not fear.
Pope Benedict’s surprise announcement Monday morning that he would resign Feb. 28 has prompted curiosity, concern, and gratitude from some East Greenwich Catholics. “I think the Pope showed great strengh of character,” Susan McManus wrote on EG Patch’s Facebook page, “a very selfless act.” Another EG Catholic, Michelle Brodeur, said her response was a mix of “a little fear and plenty of curiousity!” She said she was “shocked” when she heard the news that the leader of the world’s more than 1 billion Catholics, Pope Benedict XVI, would step down due to a decline in health. Benedict is 85 years old. “Catholics believe that the Pope is chosen by God to carry out His work here on earth. It is not a post that a worker can retire from. The pope…
Thursday, January 31, 2013
This time of year, Healey spends most afternoons at the State House, lobbying on issues important to the Catholic Church.
Father Bernard Healey took over as pastor at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church last September, but he's been the diocese's lobbyist at the State House for the past 12 years. He's the executive director of the R.I. Catholic Conference. During the legislative session (January to June), that makes for busy weekdays, with Healey traveling most afternoons from OLM in East Greenwich to the State House in Providence to meet with lawmakers and testify on bills that matter to the Diocese of Providence. "I advocate and educate on behalf of the Catholic Church," he said, ticking off the important issues: "poverty, sanctity of life, immigration, education, same-sex marriage, abortion." WPRI's Ted Nesi called Healey "an influential State House …
Sunday, January 27, 2013
Your guide for life in East Greenwich today, Jan. 27.
Our Lady of Mercy School Open House: Students, faculty, staff and current families will be on hand to give tours and answer questions about what a difference OLM has made to them. In addition to offering a competitive, challenging curriculum for students in Grades Pre K-8, OLM Students are taught to show mercy throughout their day, reaching out in kindness to each other and to those in need. Please visit www.olmschool.org or call the OLM School office at 884-1618 for further information! OLM is located at 55 Fourth Avenue in East Greenwich. From 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Rocky Hill School Open House: You can visit the Rocky Hill School campus in Potowomut and get a sense of the school community. Check out the 88-acre waterfront campus, …
Friday, December 21, 2012
In the wake of the Newtown shootings a week ago, plans are beginning to take shape to review safety procedures at all EG schools, preschools and daycares.
Our Lady of Mercy School, the only K-8 private school in East Greenwich, is reviewing its safety procedures just as the EG public schools are doing in the wake of last week's devastating shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. According to OLM Principal Sister Jeanne Barry, R.S.M., the school already had many things in place, including a buzzer at the front door, and it follows the state's dictate of 15 drills a year. "We follow all the state regulations," said Barry. "We’ve had a buzzer there for years and the doors [to the outside] are kept locked." The front door at OLM has a camera trained on it but no intercom – a problem on a rainy day, when people might be wearing hoods, she said. "With the intercom, we could …
Sunday, September 16, 2012
At 47 years old, Fr. Bernard Healey is a generation younger than his predecessor, Msgr. Lolio, who died suddenly in June.
For a Catholic priest, starting over in a new parish is usually a challenge. You are replacing someone who has been a big part of parish life and you may bring changes that are seen, initially anyway, as unwelcome. For Fr. Bernard Healey, new pastor of Our Lady of Mercy, the challenge has been all the greater because of the untimely and sudden death of his predecessor, Msgr. John Lolio. He seems up to that challenge. At age 47, Healey is a generation younger than Lolio and in the five weeks he’s been in East Greenwich, he’s already established a website for the church and loosened the restriction that boy and girl altar servers must be segregated. But Healey makes clear his respect for Lolio, whom he said was a friend as well as a …
Monday, June 18, 2012
The Rev. Bernard A. Healey will take over at Our Lady of Mercy on Aug. 1.
Bishop Tobin has appointed the Rev. Bernard A. Healey, most recently pastor of St. Ambrose in Lincoln, as pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Church, following the unexpected death of longtime OLM pastor Monsignor John Lolio in May. According to the Archdiocese of Providence, Healey will stay on as the diocesan liaison to the state legislature and director of the Rhode Island Catholic Conference. Healey was born in Providence and is the youngest of nine children.
The graduation Thursday evening was in memory of the Rev. Monsignor John W. Lolio, the longtime pastor who died unexpectedly in May.
The Our Lady of Mercy School graduating class of 2012 said goodbye to their school last night, some of them having been there since kindergarten. It was bittersweet, following the unexpected death last month of Monsignor Lolio, pastor of OLM parish from before these young people were even born. But it was happy occasion, too. Class president Natalie Pitocco spoke to her class and Principal Sr. Jeanne Barry, R.S.M., conferred awards and spoke to her longtime students. The Rev. David F. Gaffney was guest homilist. The graduates will be attending LaSalle Academy, The Prout School, Bishop Hendricken, East Greenwich High School, North Kingstown High School, Bayview, Tollgate High School, The Wheeler School, Exeter/West Greenwich High School, …
Harborside4Lif
5:27 pm on Saturday, February 2, 2013
What happened to separation of church and state? That's a great question. The Obama Administration's recent decision to require employers—including religiously-affiliated hospitals, charities, and universities—to offer health insurance that includes comprehensive coverage for a variety of contraceptive and other services related to reproduction, including abortion-inducing drugs, is a clear … more ›