Father Foley, pastor to retired priests, set to retire himself

Note: Six priests of the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be retiring July 1. The Review profiles the six as their parishes bid them farewell. Click here to read more retirement profiles. 

For the last 12 years, Father William “Bill” Foley has served the 80 or so retired priests in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, which also included helping those priests who are about to retire adjust to the changes they can expect.

Now, that group includes Father Foley himself as he will retire effective July 1 as the Director of Senior and Retired Priests.

His “parish,” if you will, includes the priests and their family members and friends who help them with various aspects of retired living. In the short span of 30 minutes that he sat down for an interview about his impending retirement, he took three phone calls about priests needing some kind of assistance or resources.

The archdiocese is one of the few dioceses in the country to have a priest assigned full-time specifically to serve retired priests. “I consider it a blessing that the Archdiocese of Baltimore thinks so much of their retired priests that they assign a priest full time to take care of them,” Father Foley said.

Although many retired priests are very independent, some are in assisted living or in their final years, and it benefits them to have someone making sure their needs are met. “I try to get to know the retired priests simply as brothers, and it’s been enriching for me,” he said.

Father Foley enjoyed parish work, especially being with parishioners and taking care of them. He said he had great mentors in the archdiocese as he was growing as a priest.

At the celebration of his 50th anniversary as a priest, one family told him that his ministry had touched five generations of the family. When he helps out celebrating Mass at Oak Crest Senior Living Community in Parkville, he sometimes sees people to whom he ministered when he was in parish ministry. 

“I just really love parish ministry – for the people. That’s the role of the priest (to be) for the people. You have to have a pastoral heart and be there for people at all times.”

Born March 2, 1947, and raised at St. Dorothy Parish in Drexel Hill, Pa., he always felt he had a vocation. “A lot of people have recently asked me what led me to the priesthood, and I simply told them it was a calling that I felt from the time I was young. You can’t describe it. It was there. And I pursued the calling.”

He attended seminary at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, Roland Park, and was ordained a priest May 18, 1974. 

He served as associate pastor at St. Ursula, Parkville (1974-80); St. Charles Borromeo, Pikesville (1980-81); St. Anthony of Padua, Baltimore (1981-87; and St. Joseph, Cockeysville (1981-87). He was pastor at Church of the Annunciation, Rosedale (1992-2009), before serving as administrator at St. Ann, Hagerstown (2009), and St. John the Evangelist, Hydes (2010). Before becoming the director of retired priests, he served as pastor of St. Joan of Arc, Aberdeen (2010-12).

Father Gerard Francik, pastor of Sacred Heart in Glyndon, first met Father Foley when young Jerry Francik was in high school and the priest asked for a couple of brass players to come to St. Ursula, where he was in charge of organizing the music. 

The two were assigned together at St. Joseph in Cockeysville for five years. Later, when Father Foley was assigned to the clergy office, he asked Father Francik, then pastor of St. Mark in Fallston, if he could live at the rectory, so they spent more than eight years together there before Father Francik was reassigned.

“I’ve gotten to know his family and his friends and all his stories, which are hilarious,” Father Francik said. As a parish priest, he said Father Foley “loves people and loves making connections. … He keeps in touch with people; I don’t know how he does it.”

He said, “He’s very generous. He will do anything for anybody as a priest. Sometimes I have to challenge him on it – he has to take care of himself.”

Father Francik said the job ministering to retired priests was just right: “In a very positive way, he’s like an old soul. He took care of them. He liked being with them. When they gave him this job, I told him it was perfect for you. You’ve always done this.”

He said the hallmarks of Father Foley are loyalty, love for the priesthood, love for the people and love for the church.

Mission Helper of the Sacred Heart Sister Susan Engel knows Father Foley from his time as pastor of Church of the Annunciation in Rosedale, where she still serves as pastoral associate and faith formation coordinator. 

“I worked with him 17 years. That’s a long time to work with one priest,” she said. 

Father Foley arrived at Annunciation in 1992, a year before the church’s 25th anniversary. He took on projects to enhance the parish and honor the anniversary, including new stained-glass windows and wooden Stations of the Cross from Italy. Sister Susan said he proved to be an effective fundraiser because he nurtured relationships with people.

“He really was a master at being able to beautify the church. His grandfather built many churches in Philadelphia. As a little boy he was witness to that,” she said.

Sister Susan said that he has connections with people all over the world, including priests and bishops, some he got to know during his time in China.

She said so many clergy from all over would visit the rectory, she told Father Foley he should call it IHOP – the International House of Priests. “They would come, and Bill would give them hospitality,” she said.

Her friend, Father Foley, is “a very friendly guy, very loyal to the church, … with a big heart and a generous spirit.”

She noted, “You never knew working with him what would happen that day.”

Sister Susan said people began to think he had magical priestly powers, because when he went three weeks in a row to Franklin Square Hospital, everyone he anointed recovered. The nurses said there was one woman who was not going to get better. She recalls Father Foley saying that was because “I haven’t anointed her yet.” 

He did; she recovered.

Email Christopher Gunty at editor@CatholicReview.org

Also see

Father Gills retires after a ministry that took him around the world and around the Archdiocese of Baltimore

‘Unflappable’ pastor who shepherded major parish projects ready to retire

Approaching retirement, Monsignor Barker reflects on shepherding one of the largest parishes in the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Founding pastor of Frederick parish to retire

Brother to teacher to pastor: Father Franken’s long and varied vocation

Father Edward Hendricks, trailblazer in pastoral planning, will remain in Western Maryland for retirement

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