2026 Profile in Augustinian Leadership – Thursday, October 8

About Prior General Fr. Joseph L. Farrell, O.S.A.

Fr. Joseph Lawrence Farrell, O.S.A., was born on July 11, 1963, at Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, the son of Francis A. and Patricia S. (Shields) Farrell. He has four brothers and one sister. He was baptized on July 28, 1963, in St. Andrew Catholic Church, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania. He attended St. Andrew Parochial School from 1969 to 1977, and then Msgr. Bonner High School, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania from 1977 to 1981. From 1981 to 1985, he attended Villanova University and received a B.S. in business administration. He then entered the Province’s pre-novitiate program at St. Augustine Friary, Villanova in 1985 and went to Blessed Stephen Bellesini Novitiate, the first year of the national novitiate in Racine, Wisconsin, on August 15, 1986. He professed first vows on August 8, 1987, and solemn vows on May 19, 1990. Following the novitiate, he went to Augustinian College, Washington, D.C., and pursued his theological studies at the Washington Theological Union from 1987 to 1991, where he received an M.A. in Theology. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 1991, at Our Mother of Good Counsel Church, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, by Bishop Francis Murphy.

Fr. Joe was first assigned to Saint Augustine Parish (Tower Hill), Lawrence, Massachusetts from 1991 to 1994. He was then appointed chaplain at Msgr. Bonner High School, and a member of the St. Joseph Friary community, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania from 1994 to 1996. From 1996 to 2003, he was assigned as campus minister at Merrimack College and a member of the St. Ambrose Friary Community. In 2003, he went to Rome, was a member of the Collegio Santa Monica community, and pursued studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University, where he received an STL in 2005 and the STD in 2007. He returned to the United States and was assigned to St. Thomas Monastery and was appointed the director of programming and outreach in the Office for Mission Effectiveness at Villanova University. He also taught at the university. At the Provincial Chapter of 2010, he was elected a counselor of the Province and was assigned as prior to Blessed Stephen Bellesini Friary in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, the pre-novitiate house of formation, from 2008-2010.

After the Ordinary General Chapter of 2013, he began to serve the Order of Saint Augustine in the role of Vicar General and in that capacity, he assisted the Prior General with the Canonical Visitations of renewal of the friars, Chapter gatherings, and administrative advisory assistance. He earned a Master of Science Degree in Church Management from Villanova University in 2019. In September of 2019, He was re-elected as Vicar General at the Ordinary General Chapter. While serving as Vicar General, he collaborated with his Augustinian brothers on the General Council in the International Commissions for Augustinian Centers of Education; Augustinian Initial Formation and Vocation Promotion; the Institute for Augustinian Spirituality; the International Commission for the Apostolate and Evangelization, the Secretariat for Social Communications, and the supervision of the members of the General Houses that fall under the responsibility of the Augustinian Curia.

On September 9, 2025, he was elected Prior General of the Augustinian Order worldwide.