He was born in Brooklyn, New York, United States of America to Irish immigrants. His mother died when he was four, and he and his brother were sent to Ireland to be raised by his paternal grandmother, in a large extended family home along the seafront in Bellurgan, County Louth.
Duquesne University.
Seven years later he returned to the United States. In 1934, after studies at Duquesne University and Saint Vincent Seminary, he was ordained into the priesthood in the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he served for seven decades. In 1937, Rice founded Saint Joseph"s House of Hospitality with two other Roman Catholic priests, Carl Hensler and George Barry O"Toole.
Also that year, the three priests formed the Catholic Radical Alliance.
During the Great Depression, Rice began his activism in social causes and especially in the American labor movement. Rice was mentored by Pittsburgh"s original labor priest Father James Cox, and as a leader of the Catholic Radical Alliance, was involved in strikes against the H.J. Heinz Company.
Moreover, Rice helped form the Association of Catholic Trade Unionists. Rice was appointed rent director of the Hill District during World World War World War II During seven decades of priesthood, Rice was pastor of Pittsburgh congregations including Saint Joseph"s in Natrona, Pennsylvania, Immaculate Conception in Washington, Pennsylvania, Holy Rosary in Homewood, and Saint Ann"s in Castle Shannon, Pennsylvania.
Foreign many years, he was a columnist for the Pittsburgh Catholic.
He marched with Martin Luther King, Junior. in the Spring Mobilization for Peace in New York in 1967. He opposed America"s involvement in the Vietnam War in 1969, and supported workers in Pittsburgh as they lost their jobs and livelihood when the steel industry closed in the 1980s. He continued his involvement in Catholic activism throughout the eras of Civil Rights, the women"s movement, and the anti-war movements.
He was appalled by the repression and perscution of the Catholic minority in Northern Ireland, and saw no contradiction between this and his peace activism.
From 1937 until 1969, Rice held a weekly radio program on which he often discussed the labor movement, communism, and Saint Joseph"s House. In the 60s and 70s, he was a passionate advocate of Irish nationalism and the Irish Republican Army.
