Robert Charles Evans (born September 2, 1947) is an American

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...

of the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

who served as

auxiliary bishop An auxiliary bishop is a bishop assigned to assist the diocesan bishop in meeting the pastoral and administrative needs of the diocese. Auxiliary bishops can also be titular bishops of sees that no longer exist as territorial jurisdictions. ...

of the

Diocese of Providence The Diocese of Providence () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Rhode Island in the United States. The diocese was erected by Blessed Pope Pius IX on February 17, 1872. The Diocese of Providence is a suffragan diocese of the Ar ...

in Rhode Island from 2009 to 2022.

Biography

Early life

Robert C. Evans was born September 2, 1947, in

Moultrie, Georgia Moultrie is the county seat and largest city of Colquitt County, Georgia, United States. It is the third largest city in Southwest Georgia, behind Thomasville and Albany. As of the 2020 census, Moultrie's population was 14,638. It was origina ...

, the son of Ivey Evans and Lolita Baldisseri. After the family moved to

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

, Evans attended primary school in the

Providence Public School District The Providence Public School Department is the administrative force behind the primary public school district of Providence, Rhode Island. As of July 2022, it serves about 21,700 students in pre-K through 12th grade. It has 21 elementary school ...

. He then entered Our Lady of Providence Seminary High School in Providence, graduating in 1965. Evans received a

Bachelor of Philosophy Bachelor of Philosophy (BPhil, BPh, or PhB; or or ) is the title of an academic degree in philosophy that usually involves considerable research, either through a thesis or supervised research projects. Unlike many other bachelor's degrees, the ...

degree from Our Lady of Providence College Seminary in

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States, and is the third-largest city in the state, with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Warwick is located approximately south of downtown Pr ...

, in 1969. Evans then attended the

Pontifical North American College The Pontifical North American College (NAC) is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic educational institution in Rome, Italy, that prepares seminarians to become priests in the United States and elsewhere. The NAC also provides a residence for Prie ...

in Rome, where he completed his priestly formation in 1973.

Priesthood

Evans was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

into the priesthood for the Diocese of Providence at

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in Rome by then Bishop James Aloysius Hickey, James A. Hickey on July 2, 1973. After his ordination, Evans was assigned as assistant pastor at St. Pius X Parish in Westerly, Rhode Island. He was moved in 1974 to be assistant pastor of Holy Angels Parish in Barrington, Rhode Island and chaplain at Roger Williams College in Bristol, Rhode Island. In 1978, Evans was reassigned as assistant chaplain at Rhode Island Hospital and Roger Williams Medical Center, Roger Williams Hospital in Providence and as assistant pastor of St. Lawrence Parish in North Providence, Rhode Island. In 1979, Evans moved from St. Lawrence to St. Mark’s Parish, in Cranston, Rhode Island, as assistant pastor. After four years at St. Mark's, he was appointed in 1983 as administrative secretary to the bishop. Evans returned to Rome in 1987, where he entered the Pontifical Gregorian University; he was awarded a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1989. After returning to Providence that year, Evans was appointed as vice-chancellor with residence at St. Margaret’s Parish in Rumford, Rhode Island. In 1991, Evans was appointed pastor of St. Anthony’s Parish in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, as well as diocesan chancellor and director of the Office of Priests’ Personnel. He was transferred in 1992 to be pastor at St. Joan of Arc Parish in Cumberland, Rhode Island, staying there for five years. In 1997, he was appointed pastor of Our Lady of Mercy Parish in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. In 2001, Evans went again to Rome, this time to serve as director of the Institute for Continuing Theological Education at the Pontifical North American College. He was also a teacher at the college. Evans returned to the United States in 2005 to become secretary at the Apostolic Nunciature to the United States, Apostolic Nunciature in Washington, DC. He was reassigned to Rhode Island in 2007 to serve as pastor of St. Philip Parish in Greenville, Rhode Island, and as Adjunct professor, adjunct faculty member of the Seminary of Our Lady of Providence.

Auxiliary Bishop of Providence

Evans was appointed Titular Bishop, titular bishop of Aquae Regiae and auxiliary bishop of Providence on October 15, 2009, by Benedict XVI, Pope Benedict XVI. He was consecrated on December 15, 2009. At a November 13, 2018 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, US Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting on the handling of the sexual abuse allegations by the church, Evans made this defense of how bishops had previously handled these claims: "Many bishops, I would say almost everyone, did the best they could according to the best lights of the time"

Retirement

On November 23, 2022, Pope Francis accepted Evans resignation as auxiliary bishop of Providence after he reached the retirement age of 75.

References

External links

Diocese of Providence

Episcopal succession

1947 births Living people People from Moultrie, Georgia Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence 21st-century American Roman Catholic titular bishops Religious leaders from Rhode Island Catholics from Georgia (U.S. state) {{US-RC-bishop-stub