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The Rev. Walter ‘Tad’ Oxley will leave the Pontifical College Josephinum Feb. 15.
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Diocese of Toledo priest accepts appointment to Vatican

Diocese of Toledo priest accepts appointment to Vatican

The Rev. Walter “Tad” Oxley, a priest from the Diocese of Toledo, has been appointed to serve in the Vatican as an official for the doctrinal section of the Holy See’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

He will leave his position at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus after the fall semester. He is an assistant professor, the vice rector for formation, the dean of community life, and the director of human formation there. His new appointment is effective Feb. 15.

Bishop Daniel Thomas, himself a former Vatican resident, as an official of the Congregation for Bishops from 1990 through 2005, announced Father Oxley’s appointment Thursday.

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When then-Father Thomas served in Rome, he also was a spiritual director for the Pontifical North American College, and he lived across the hall from then-seminarian Tad Oxley.

“We played tennis with each other,” Father Oxley said. “I’ve known him for years, so when he became bishop, I thought ‘Thanks be to God. This man I knew in Rome is my bishop.’ ”

Bishop Thomas informed Father Oxley that he was under consideration for the Vatican position “a number of months ago,” Father Oxley said. “He said, ‘I have just received a call from the Holy See and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. They’re requesting your service.’ ”

The congregation is responsible for promoting and defending Catholic doctrine.

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Bishop Thomas suggested that Father Oxley pray about it.

“When he mentioned that to me, I was shocked,” Father Oxley said. “I would have never anticipated an assignment in the Roman Curia, and I would have never really desired an appointment in the Roman Curia because I love Ohio. I was very happy at the Josephinum and I would be very happy in the Diocese of Toledo, and I just love Ohio. It’s sad to leave; I mean, it’s a sacrifice. … After I prayed about it, I realized, you know, I really think this is from God. I had deep peace, and I really thought this is something that God is asking me to do. So I got back to [Bishop Thomas] five days later. I told him, yes.” The appointment became official only recently.

Bishop Thomas told diocesan priests about Father Oxley’s appointment at a meeting in Findlay, when the deans of the 15 regions of the diocese were commissioned and installed.

“It was really nice,” Father Oxley said. “I could talk with all the priests about it in Toledo, because I’m assigned to Columbus in the seminary, so I wouldn’t have gotten to see all those priests.”

Father Oxley will be the only priest from the Toledo diocese with an assignment in the Holy See.

He was associate pastor of St. Patrick of Heatherdowns Church from 2003-2005 after he completed his seminary training in Rome, and in 2005 he returned to Rome for a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University. He began his position on the Josephinum faculty in 2009.

Father Oxley was born in Fremont and ordained in 2003.

Contact TK Barger @ tkbarger@theblade.com, 419-724-6278 or on Twitter @TK_Barger.

First Published October 9, 2015, 4:00 a.m.

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The Rev. Walter ‘Tad’ Oxley will leave the Pontifical College Josephinum Feb. 15.
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