Father Healey was born in Providence, Rhode Island and raised in the Edgewood section of Cranston, where he attended public schools and attended Mass at St. Paul’s Church.  He is the youngest of nine children of  the late Judge Edward V. Healey, Jr and the late Lillian E. Healey.

A 1987 graduate of The Catholic University of America with a Bachelors of Arts in Politics, Fr. Healey completed his seminary and theological studies at American College, Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium.  While there he earned a Masters of Arts in Religious Studies and a Licentiate in Sacred Theology specializing in the area of Moral Theology from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.  He also earned a Licentiate in Canon Law specializing in the area of church-state relations from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Fr. Healey was ordained to the priesthood for the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island by The Most Rev. Louis E. Gelineau, then Bishop of Providence, on June 24, 1995.    He was appointed Pastor of Saint Ambrose Church in Albion, Rhode Island as well as the Chaplain for the Albion Fire Department in 2003.  He also serves as the Chaplain of the Rhode Island Capitol Police.  Previously he had served as Associate Pastor at St. Mary, Star of the Sea, Narragansett and St. Augustine Church in Providence.

Appointed in 1998, Father Healey also serves as the Theological Consultant and Editorial Writer for Rhode Island Catholic, the weekly diocesan newspaper.  Since 2000 he has served as Director of the Office of Governmental Liaison and Chief Lobbyist to the Rhode Island General Assembly for the Diocese of Providence. He also currently serves as the Director of the Rhode Island Catholic Conference.

Fr. Healey is a member of the Advisory Board of the Rhode Island Catholic School Parents Federation, the advocacy group for Catholic Schools  for the Diocese of Providence.  He is a founding Board Member of the Rhode Island Scholarship Alliance, an organization of Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs) working to promote school choice and educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged students through the Rhode Island Scholarship tax credit program. Fr. Healey also serves as the President of the Board of the Rhode Island Scholarship Advocates, the public policy and advocacy division of the RI Scholarship Alliance.

Fr. Healey is a board member of the St. Thomas More Legal Society of Rhode Island.  He is a member of the National Association of State Catholic Conference Directors and the Canon Law Society of America. He is a member of the Friendly Sons of Saint Patrick of Providence, the Sons of Irish Kings, the Ancient Order of Hibernians of Providence and Newport, the Shamrock Society of North Providence and also a fourth degree member of the Knights of Columbus.

Father Healey is the recipient of the Thomas Aquinas Award for Distinguished Service and Advocacy on behalf of Catholic School Children from the R.I. Catholic School Parents’ Federation and the St. George Emblem for his service and support on behalf for Catholic Scouting in the Diocese of Providence. In 2007 he was invested as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, the only Pontifical lay institution of the Vatican State charged with the task of providing for the needs of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and of all the activities and initiatives to support the Christian presence in the Holy Land.

pastor@stambrosechurchri.org

The Pastors of St. Ambrose

1904-1912       Father Antoine Bernard
1912-1925       Father Hercule J. Lariviere
1929-1925       Father Arthur H. Messier
1929-1930       Father Arthur A. Lafayette
1930-1931       Father J. Adrian Forest
1931-1938       Father David B. Brunelle
1939-1944       Father Napoleon J. Plasse
1944-1950       Father J. Arsene Corbeil
1950-1951       Father J. Alfred Laliberte
1951-1968       Father Eustache L. Magnant
1968-1968       Father Leonard F. Charron
1968-1986       Father Robert Ethier
1986-1993       Father Joel Lecuivre
1993-1997       Father Pierre Plante
1997-2002       Father Thomas Trepanier
2003-Present   Father Bernard A. Healey