New Provincial for the Province of St. Joseph

On Friday, June 13, 2014, the Province of St. Joseph elected Kenneth Letoile, O.P., to serve as Prior Provincial for the next four years. His election was confirmed by the Master of the Order, Bruno Cadoré, O.P., and is effective immediately. Elected to a four-year term, Father Letoile succeeds Brian Martin Mulcahy, O.P., who served as Provincial since 2010. According to the Constitutions of the Dominican Order, the primary duties of the Prior Provincial are to promote “the authentic spirit and life of the Order” in his province; to keep “the common good of the Order very much at heart;” and to “promote cooperation between the province and the hierarchy and between the province and other religious families so that the needs of the local Church may be understood better and provided for more satisfactorily.” Fr. Letoile was born and raised in St. Pius V parish, Providence, R.I. He is a graduate of the parish grade school and of La Salle Academy. He entered the Order of Preachers in 1967, and earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Providence College in 1970. Fr. Letoile went on to study at the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, D.C.), and he was ordained to the priesthood in 1974. He completed his S.T.L. in 1975. Fr. Letoile has 36 years of pastoral service in Dominican parishes, including: St. Ann, Kingstree, S.C. (1975-1978); Sacred Heart, Jersey City, N.J. (1978-1989), St. Pius V, Providence, R.I. (1989-1998, 2008-2011) and St. Gertrude, Cincinnati, Ohio (1998-2008). In 2011 he was elected prior at the Dominican House of Studies. He became the Director of Pastoral Field Education for the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception in July, 2012. He has served the Province of St. Joseph as vocation director and as a member of the provincial council. His pastoral interests include evangelization, effective parish leadership and the relationship of the Dominican vocation to parochial life. In addition to Fr. Letoile, the Chapter also elected six friars to serve as diffinitors for the remainder of the chapter. The provincial and his diffinitors will make various appointments and assignments in the coming weeks. The list of diffinitors in order of religion is Joseph Guido, O.P., Joseph Barranger, O.P., Andrew Hofer, O.P., Darren Pierre, O.P., Allen Moran, O.P., and Dominic Legge, O.P. Please keep Fr. Letoile and the diffinitors in your prayers, along with the work of the chapter as a whole. A complete press release about Fr. Letoile’s election can be found here.