Fr. Charles Collins was born in Providence, Rhode Island on September 1, 1943. He attended Blessed Sacrament Grammar in Providence. During that time, he was an altar boy and in the parish choir. He attended LaSalle Academy Providence High School, staffed by the Christian Brothers, who helped him discern the priesthood. He entered the Religious Community of the Sacred Hearts and attended college at St. Mary’s in Winona, MN and Our Lady Queen of Peace Seminary in Jaffrey, NH. Later he received his Master’s Degree from Washington Theological Coalition’s Augustinian College in Washington, DC. Fr. Charles Collins also spent a year as a community organizer in Chicago, IL working with parish neighborhoods raising awareness for neighborhood social concerns.
Fr. Charles Collins was ordained a priest on August 19, 1972 and his first parish assignment as a Sacred Hearts priest was at Saints Peter and Paul in Rochester, NY. Later as an incardinated priest of the Archdiocese of Boston, he ministered at Saint Ann Parish in Quincy, Saint Barbara Parish in Woburn, Saint Mary Parish in Dedham and recently retired as Pastor of St. John the Evangelist Parish in Cambridge.
