Joseph Protano News Today

Easter Notes

The frequent request went, “Save me a place at the table.” Words about sharing a meal with a friend as well as a deep spiritual faith of the late Rev.

Easter 2022 Dear island friends and visitors: “He is not here.” It does not sound like a theological declaration. It sounds more like a receptionist stating the CEO is not in. Yet, when one is working through the impossible and unbelievable,...

RELIGIOUS SERVICES BAPTIST HARBOR CHURCH Water Street Rev. Peter Preiser (401) 466-5940 harborchurchblockisland.net Sunday 10 a.m.: Live in-person services in the sanctuary. Also streaming live on our Facebook page (Harbor Church - Block...

Steven Hester Category:  St. Andrew Parish opened the summer church for Easter Sunday services. Easter came early this year, and with it came hope for many of Block Island’s residents. Hope for a return to some sort of normalcy, as many people finally had a holiday with extended family. Hope that the cool temperatures are behind us and short pants are in our future. Hope that the sweet sounds of a thousand songbirds will continue to greet us each day. Hope that the water pipes we drained our...

Dear friends and visitors of Block Island: What a year! Disease and death in numbers we could not imagine. Thousands of front liners put their lives on the line to save and succor strangers. Tens of thousands of others put their lives and all those around them in danger of the virus and death by selfishly and deliberately ignoring the science and the minimal precautions. We lived through a year in which we witnessed the savagery of murders of our fellow citizens; the reaction of the outraged an...

The Talmud (Rabbinical discussion of laws) says: “Our rabbis taught: On the twenty-fifth of [the beginning of] the eight days of Hanukkah, on which lamentation for the dead and fasting are forbidden. For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oils in it, and when the Hasmonean dynasty prevailed over them and defeated them, they searched and found only one bottle of oil sealed by the High Priest. It contained only enough for one day’s lighting. Yet a miracle was brought abo...