PROVIDENCE – Rev. Msgr. Robert C. Newbold, Ph.D., 87, pastor emeritus of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Providence, and an attorney at law, died Sunday, June 15, 2008.
Born in Bristol, son of the late Robert G. and Helen B. (Hogan) Newbold, he attended St. Mary School and Colt Memorial High School in Bristol, Rhode Island College of Education (RIC) and Providence College in Providence.
He completed studies for the priesthood at St. Bernard Seminary, Rochester, New York, and was ordained a priest on December 22, 1945 in the Cathedral of SS. Peter and Paul, Providence, by Bishop Francis P. Keough.
Father Newbold’s first priestly assignment was at St. Francis Church, Wakefield, as assistant pastor. In September 1947 he was sent to Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana, for post-graduate studies. In October 1950 he became a professor at Our Lady of Providence Seminary in Warwick Neck.
In 1961 he was promoted to the post of vice-rector and principal of the High School Department of the same seminary, and became rector there in 1968. Father Newbold became pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Providence in February 1988, and served there until September 1999, when he retired as pastor emeritus. In April 1997 he was appointed Honorary Prelate of His Holiness Pope John Paul II with the title of Reverend Monsignor. In his retirement, he lived at St. John Vianney Residence in Providence; then lately in Scalabrini Villa in North Kingstown.
In addition to his teaching and parochial duties, Msgr. Newbold also served as chaplain of the Children’s Center of Rhode Island in Providence (1951); chaplain of the Rhode Island Chapter International Federation of Catholic Alumnae (1953); pro-synodal Examiner (1954); Censor of the Books of the Diocese of Providence (1958); Director of the Diocesan Retreat League for Women (1960); member of the Executive Board of the National Catholic Educational Association (1963); member of the Council of Conciliation and Arbitration (1979); member of the Bishop’s Advisory Board on Major Seminarians (1979); member of the Conflict of Interest Commission of the State of Rhode Island (1980); executive director of the Rhode Island Interscholastic League (1968); member of the Rhode Island State Ethics Commission (1987); director of Government Liaison for the Diocese of Providence from 1990 until 2005; member of the Council of Priests (1990-93); vice-chairman of the Grievance Board of the Diocese of Providence and member of the College of Consultors (1993-96); parish priest Consultor (1998); and a member of a number of other educational associations.
Msgr. Newbold leaves a brother, Raymond Newbold, of Narragansett, and he was the brother of the late Francis A. Newbold.
A Mass of Christian Burial was concelebrated June 20 at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Providence with Bishop Thomas J. Tobin as the main celebrant and Bishops Louis E. Gelineau, George H. Pearce, Ernest B. Boland, Francis X. Roque, and Daniel P. Reilly, bishop emeritus of Worcester, MA, and other clergy concelebrating. Father Charles H. Downing, pastor of St. Joseph Church, West Warwick, served as homilist.
Burial was in St. Mary Cemetery, Bristol.
