Finding God in Suffering

It is often very difficult to find faith and God in the midst of our suffering. Our Catholic faith teaches us that, in the midst of the mystery of suffering, God has found us.

Father Christopher Mahar, a priest of the Diocese of Providence in the United States, earned a Bachelor of Science in Philosophy from Providence College in 2000, and went on to complete his Bachelor in Sacred Theology from the Gregorian University in Rome in 2003. He was ordained a deacon in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome in 2003 and a priest in the Diocese of Providence in 2004, where he served as parochial vicar of Our Lady of Mercy Church in East Greenwich and St. Mary's Church in Cranston. He was instrumental in the development of end-of-life guidelines for the diocese, and helped to create A "Catholic Health Care Directive for R.I." which is used throughout the state. In 2008 he was appointed Vice Rector of the American College of the Immaculate Conception in Leuven, Belgium where he served until June 2011. In June of 2010 he completed a Sacred Theology License (S.T.L.) in Theological Ethics from the Catholic University of Louvain. In July 2011 Bishop Thomas Tobin appointed him Rector of the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence, and in July 2013 he was also appointed Director of Ongoing Formation of Priests for the Diocese of Providence. In December 2016, he earned his Ph.D., in combination with the canonical degree of S.T.D. in Theological Ethics, from the Catholic University of Louvain, focusing on brain injury and artificial nutrition and hydration. He taught Moral Theology at Providence College and served on the Ethics and Patients' Rights Committee for Our Lady of Fatima Hospital in North Providence, R.I. until 2017. From September through December 2017 he served at the Holy See's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, and in April 2018 was appointed to the Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development at the Vatican. In 2023 he was assigned as Pastor of St. Augustine Church in Providence.