St. Edward’s priest responds to homeless encampment on church premises

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The head pastor of St. Edward Church in Providence responded to residents’ concerns after a homeless encampment recently formed on church premises.

Father Ed Cardente of St. Edward’s said several clients of the church’s food and wellness center and hot meal ministry approached him last week asking for help, saying they were being evicted from the land they were living on.

Providence previously deemed two homeless encampments at Houghton Street and Branch Avenue as a safety concern and cleared them on Tuesday.

Cardente explained the church’s role situation, sharing a statement reading in part:

“On Monday, we were approached by representatives from several organizations working with those living in the encampment asking if several could move onto our property. These representatives advised us that there was absolutely no other place for these people to go, as they were now required to leave by Tuesday. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ, it is our mission as stated many times by the Pope that we must help our brothers and sisters, especially those who are destitute and are in serious need of help. While we did not create this situation, it is our obligation as a Church to help, therefore I allowed several persons to temporarily move onto our property.”

Cardente added that the church installed a fence around the encampment to provide privacy to both the neighbors and those residing in the tents.

The parish has also provided a dumpster and portable toilet and is working to arrange portable showers, with Cardente adding:

“I do want to emphasize that this is a temporary/emergency situation. There are currently about 7 families residing in this group as well as several empty tents used for the storage of personal property. All of those residing in these tents have agreed to move to shelter or another location as soon as one or more become available. In addition, no additional persons will be added and when someone does leave, their space will not be filled or replaced with another person and this will continue until everyone has departed. Contrary to some information circulating, we will NOT be creating any new or additional areas, nor will we be relocating any persons to any of the other church properties. Again, this is a temporary/emergency situation that we are just trying to help with.”

The full letter to parishioners can be found on the church’s website.