Church of St. Mary on Broadway

The parish is located in the west end of Providence just over one mile from Providence City Hall. Broadway is a street lined with magnificent Victorian houses, legal and medical offices, shops and restaurants. Yet it is still a residential area of the city and one that has become popular with young adults and graduate students. The former mills of the Olneyville section are now part of the growing artists’ center of the city of Providence. The Armory district south of the parish chuch is largely residential with a multi-ethnic population.

The Church of St. Mary on Broadway is one of the oldest Catholic parishes in the State of Rhode Island. Established in 1853 to serve Catholic immigrants in the Federal Hill and Olneyville sections of Providence, today the parish is home to worshippers who come from all over Southeastern New England.

In 2006, the Franciscan Friars of the Holy Name Province, who had ministered at St. Francis Chapel in Downtown Providence for over fifty years, assumed the direction of the parish. With them came a community of men and women who had found their spiritual home in St. Francis Chapel and who brought their experience of a vibrant Christian community to the parish. In 2012, when the Friars made the sad decision to leave the diocese of Providence because of the Franciscans declining numbers, the community made the conscious choice to make St. Mary their home.

Today, we are an “intentional parish,” a Catholic community that is committed to sharing our “time, talent and treasure” so that the parish can respond to the call we have heard to welcome, to love and to serve.