Rev. Eugene J. McKenna - Pastor
Father Gene has been pastor of St. Lucy since 1983.
He grew up in Rhode Island, the son of Eugene and Mary McKenna. He has two sisters - Shirley, a wife, mother, and grandmother, who died in 2005, and Sister Ann McKenna, RSM, who has just completed a tour as the founding principal of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Academy in Central Falls, RI, and now teaches Spanish at Our Lady of Mercy Academy, East Greenwich, RI.
After attending St. Mary's grammar school in Providence and LaSalle Academy, Fr. Gene entered Our Lady of Providence Seminary - finishing with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1959. He continued his studies at the University of Louvain (Belgium) - earning a Master of Arts in Religious Education in 1963. He was ordained the same year.
Returning to the US after his studies abroad, Father Gene was a teacher at Our Lady of Providence Seminary from 1963 to 1970, at the same time serving in parishes in Warwick and Providence. He was then part of the team ministry at Sacred Heart Parish, Woonsocket, from 1972 to 1977. His next job took him back to Belgium, serving on the Staff of the American College, Louvain (1978-1983), while at the same time serving as Pastor of Our Lady of Mercy, Brussels, and auxiliary US Military chaplain for military and diplomatic personnel in Belgium. While at the Louvain he earned a second post-graduate degree - Master of Moral and Religious Sciences (1983). From there he returned to the US again and was appointed pastor of St. Lucy.
