Prout was founded by the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, a Roman Catholic religious order, in 1966. In 1986, Prout became a diocesan high school, an agency of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence. For fifty years, Prout has exemplified both the broad Catholicity of our religious heritage and also the specific charism of the Servant of God, Venerable Mother Mary Joseph Prout, after whom our school is named.
As a Catholic school, Prout exists to facilitate an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ, who is Emmanuel, our God-among-us. Through daily prayer, the regular celebration of the Eucharist, abundant opportunities for Reconciliation, the availability of a priest-chaplain and campus minister for spiritual counsel, the presence of the Blessed Sacrament in our school chapel, retreat days for both our students and faculty, a peer ministry program that forms seniors as role models in the faith, and the solid formation in Catholic doctrine—according to the framework proposed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops—offered by our theology faculty, Prout promotes that encounter as the ultimate goal for all of its educational, athletic, artistic and community-building pursuits.
Inspired by the example of Mother Mary Joseph Prout, the foundress of the Sisters of the Cross and Passion and our patroness, our charism is further enriched by her four-fold legacy: (1) the identification of the suffering Christ with our suffering brothers and sisters in need; (2) the promotion and safeguarding of human dignity; (3) Christian charity expressed in concrete acts of service; (4) educational excellence, especially for those who might not otherwise have access to quality intellectual formation. Prout is a place where the values which shaped our patroness’ religious and education vision continue to guide, challenge and inspire us.
Our program of Christian service is integrated into everything we do as a school community. From the classroom, to clubs and service organizations, to regular school-wide drives, to mission trips, to documented service hours as a requirement for grade promotion, we continue to serve the suffering Christ in our suffering brothers and sisters after the example of Mother Mary Joseph Prout.
Jesus reminds us that evidence of our faithfulness is provided in the fruit which we bear for the Kingdom (Matt 7:16). The fruit of our evangelical efforts has been clearly evidenced in a number of ways in recent months and years:
We have had several students receive the Sacraments of Initiation, some of whom have entered the Catholic Church from other denominations;
We have expanded our offering of clubs dedicated explicitly to faith and service formation, such as the addition of the Legion of Mary and the St. John Paul II Club;
We have introduced our international students—some of whom have had no religious formation whatsoever—to the Catholic faith and its core principles;
We have introduced students to the heritage of our Catholic culture through formation in liturgical music and the opportunity to sing at liturgical ceremonies throughout the Diocese and even in Europe;
We have begun to gather with students to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in our school chapel on a regular basis;
We have even had several students participate in discernment opportunities to consider whether or not God may be calling them to service as ordained or consecrated persons.
Our Catholic identity and the legacy of our patroness inform everything we are and do as a school community. These are not additions to our mission, but the very drive and impetus for it. In all that we undertake we seek first God’s kingdom knowing—as God has done for the past fifty years and will continue to do for our future—that all things we be given us besides (Matt 6:33).