Catholic dating in Rhode Island
Catholic dating in Rhode Island: St Mary's in Newport, where the Kennedys married, the Latin Mass in Providence, Brown and URI, and parishes across the state.
Create your profileAn illustration, not a data map.
- Latin Mass
- Young adults
- Campus ministry
- Parish
- Shrine
Short answer
St Mary's Church in Newport keeps a list of weddings in its own history. "Perhaps the most famous and poignant", the parish writes, took place there on 12 September 1953, when Jacqueline Lee Bouvier married Senator John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Long before that, in 1871, a grandnephew of the French emperor, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, married there too, and the parish recalls that it "hosted a number of society weddings".
The parish traces its land to 1828 and calls itself "Rhode Island's First Roman Catholic Parish". It is still a working parish, with a Saturday vigil and two Sunday Masses, and its website still carries pages for couples preparing a wedding Mass.
Fourteen places are gathered here, each with its address and its own website: St Mary's in Newport, the Latin Mass parish on Broadway in Providence and its young adults, the Catholic communities at Brown and RISD and at the University of Rhode Island, a Spanish Mass in Newport, an Italian and English Mass in Johnston, and parishes from Greenville to Narragansett. They are not all the parishes in the state; they are the ones whose own pages we could read.
cana.love published this page. It is a free site for people who want marriage, and it is not for Catholics alone; later on the page explains why.
Catholics in Rhode Island
The whole state is the Diocese of Providence. Its website and parish directory refused automated visitors, and we could not find a website of the cathedral itself, so this page relies on the parishes' own sites.
The traditional Latin Mass has a parish of its own: St Mary's on Broadway in Providence, served by the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter, with a sung Mass on Sunday morning. Its young adult group names its age range, eighteen to thirty-five.
From the parishes' and campus ministries' own pages, opened 24 September 2026
Brown and RISD students have a Catholic community served by Dominican friars, and the University of Rhode Island has Christ the King in Kingston. Newport's St Joseph has a Sunday evening Mass in Spanish; St Rocco in Johnston has an early Sunday Mass in Italian and English; St Francis Xavier in East Providence celebrates two of its three Sunday Masses in Portuguese.
Where the community gathers
The fourteen places lie in three parts of a small state: Providence and its neighbours, Newport and Aquidneck Island, and South County and Kent.
Providence and its neighbours
Providence and its neighbours hold seven: St Mary's on Broadway, its young adults, the Brown-RISD Catholic Community, St Rocco in Johnston, St Philip in Greenville, St Francis Xavier in East Providence and St Luke in Barrington.
Newport and Aquidneck Island
Newport and Aquidneck Island hold three: St Mary's and St Joseph in Newport, and St Barnabas in Portsmouth.
South County and Kent
South County and Kent hold four: Christ the King in Kingston, St Thomas More in Narragansett, St Francis de Sales in North Kingstown and Our Lady of Mercy in East Greenwich.
Meeting places worth knowing
A parish of the Priestly Fraternity of St Peter where the traditional Latin Mass is celebrated, with Sunday Masses at seven and half past eight and a sung Mass at half past ten, and confession before every Mass.
538 BroadwayProvidence
RI 02909
A group for Catholics between eighteen and thirty-five, to grow in faith and make new friends, meeting every other Wednesday evening.
538 BroadwayProvidence
RI 02909
The Catholic community of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, served by Dominican friars, with Sunday Masses in Manning Chapel at half past ten and half past eight at night during term, and weekly dinners, talks and retreats.
51 Prospect StreetProvidence
RI 02906
A parish with a Sunday Mass in Italian and English at eight, and two more at ten and noon.
927 Atwood AvenueJohnston
RI 02919
A parish of the northwest with a Saturday vigil at four and three Sunday Masses.
622 Putnam PikeGreenville
RI 02828
A parish with Sunday Masses in Portuguese at eight and a quarter to twelve and in English at half past nine.
81 North Carpenter StreetEast Providence
RI 02914
A Barrington parish with a Saturday vigil at five and Sunday Masses at half past seven, nine and eleven.
108 Washington RoadBarrington
RI 02806
The parish where Jacqueline Bouvier and John Kennedy married in 1953, which calls itself Rhode Island's first Roman Catholic parish, with a Saturday vigil at a quarter past five and Sunday Masses at eight and eleven.
12 William StreetNewport
RI 02840
A Newport parish with a Sunday Mass in Spanish at half past six in the evening.
5 Mann AvenueNewport
RI 02840
A parish on Aquidneck Island with a Saturday vigil at five and Sunday Masses at eight and half past ten.
1697 East Main RoadPortsmouth
RI 02871
The parish beside the University of Rhode Island, with a Saturday vigil at five and four Sunday Masses from a quarter to eight to noon.
180 Old North RoadKingston
RI 02881
A parish near the shore with a Saturday vigil at five, Sunday Mass at ten and daily Mass at nine.
53 Rockland StreetNarragansett
RI 02882
A parish with a Saturday vigil and Sunday Masses at half past seven, nine and half past eleven.
381 School StreetNorth Kingstown
RI 02852
A parish with Sunday Masses at half past seven, nine and half past ten, and an evening Mass in the winter months.
65 3rd StreetEast Greenwich
RI 02818
Some places appear without a card. St Basil the Great in Lincoln is a Melkite Greek Catholic parish whose schedule is posted only as an image. Providence College, the Dominican college in the city, and Salve Regina in Newport have chapels whose Mass times we could not read, and the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul had no website we could confirm.
Distances that decide everything
A diagram, not a map. Driving times, as in the text.
Rhode Island is small. From St Mary's on Broadway, Brown is about five minutes away, Kingston and Newport each under an hour, and the Melkite parish in Lincoln about a quarter of an hour.
So the whole state is within an evening's drive: two people in Providence and Newport can meet for coffee after work without planning a weekend around it.
Where you live, and whether you would move, are both questions on the cana.love form, so even a short distance is set out plainly.
The Catholic year in Rhode Island
A sung Latin Mass in Providence
St Mary's on Broadway, with the Fraternity of St Peter.
Young adults at St Mary's on Broadway
Eighteen to thirty-five, in the evening.
Late Mass for Brown and RISD
In Manning Chapel, during term.
Misa en español in Newport
St Joseph, in the evening.
Italian and English in Johnston
St Rocco, the first Mass of the morning.
A vigil in the Kennedys' wedding church
St Mary's in Newport.
Dating as a practising Catholic in Rhode Island
A sung Latin Mass on Broadway, a Portuguese Mass in East Providence, a Spanish Mass in Newport and a student Mass in Manning Chapel: Rhode Island's Catholics pray in more than one way, and cana.love asks you to say which way is yours.
Mass, fasting and Scripture, each asked
The form puts one question about how often you attend Mass, with five answers from weekly to seldom, and separate questions about fasting, Scripture and what you are hoping for. Each answer can be public or private, as you prefer.
Parish and meaning, in your own words
Your parish and what gives your life meaning go in as your own words, since a Dominican campus chapel and a wedding church in Newport do not belong in one drop-down.
Spanish is one of five languages
The site can be read in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German or Russian.
Checked first, free, no password
A profile or photo appears only after a check, by software and, when that is not enough, by a staff member. No member may ask another for money, and fraud ends an account permanently without a warning. Joining costs nothing, nothing renews automatically, and there is no password to remember: you log in with a one-time link or code sent to your email.
What cana.love is and is not
cana.love is not a Catholic-only platform.
Orthodox and Protestant Christians, and people still choosing a church, can join as well, if they are looking for the same kind of marriage; it is up to you, in your settings, who can see your profile. Rhode Island's parishes pray in Portuguese, Spanish and Italian as well as English, and a site with a locked door would be narrower than they are. The one thing it promises is there to check: each profile begins with faith, practice and intentions. Cana SpA, a Chilean company, operates it; see the About page for more.
Meeting safely
- Plan a first meeting for daytime in a public place, and agree beforehand when it will end: coffee after Mass, or a café on Thayer Street in Providence or on Thames Street in Newport. Let a friend know where you are going and when you plan to be home. There is no need to give your address yet.
- For money we have a single rule: before you have met in person, do not send money, lend it or pay for anyone's travel, whatever you are told. One report is enough for us to act.
The community guidelines set out what happens after a report and how to appeal.
Common questions
Where did the Kennedys marry?
At St Mary's Church in Newport, on 12 September 1953, as the parish's own history records.
Where is the traditional Latin Mass?
St Mary's on Broadway in Providence, a parish of the Fraternity of St Peter, with a sung Mass on Sunday at half past ten.
Which young adult group names an age?
St Mary's on Broadway, for ages eighteen to thirty-five.
Is there anything for students?
The Brown-RISD Catholic Community in Providence and Christ the King in Kingston, beside URI.
Which other languages are heard at Mass?
Portuguese in East Providence, Spanish in Newport, and Italian with English in Johnston.
Can I join cana.love from anywhere in Rhode Island?
Yes, if you are eighteen or older; it runs in any browser, and there is nothing to install.
Next steps
In Providence, go to the young adults at St Mary's on Broadway; in Newport, to Mass at St Mary's. And to learn how someone practises before you meet rather than after, open a free cana.love profile and read theirs.
Reviewed on September 24, 2026.