From the Archives

Born in England and suffering from tuberculosis as a child, Father Joseph Duffy came to Oklahoma by a circuitous route. Ordained in Salford, England, in 1944, Father Duffy was told to seek a more conducive climate due to his illness. 

Initially, Los Angeles was his choice and he served there until 1949. Oklahoma priest Father Bernard Loftis was a seminary friend who encouraged him to explore the possibility of coming to Oklahoma. He arrived in 1949 and would leave an indelible mark on the Church in Oklahoma. Observing his obvious talents, Bishop McGuinness officially accepted him as a priest of the Diocese of Oklahoma City and Tulsa in 1951.

With energy and vision, he hit the ground running as he became the first resident pastor of Paul’s Valley where he built the church and rectory as well as the church in Lindsey. Gifted with a rapier wit and an intellect to match, he became a popular speaker and writer throughout the diocese. An original member of the editorial board of the Oklahoma Courier (the forerunner of the Sooner Catholic), he contributed to the editorial content as well as writing articles using humor and satire to drive home his point. 

An example of this can be seen in a letter to the chancellor during a summer session he attended at Marquette University where he states, “I am very vain this week because my professor read my paper to the class as one of the outstanding ones and this will make me positively unbearable. For a fee I might be willing to read it to you. … You might throw a coffee and autograph party.”

He became a teacher of English Literature at the newly constructed Saint Francis de Sales Seminary (now the Catholic Pastoral Center) in 1959. In June of 1960, he was appointed pastor of Saint Joseph Church in Norman. His dynamic personality came to the fore immediately. 

In a touching article written by the Oklahoma City Times, his time as pastor is remembered: “He was tough. He had to be. Once as a youth he had been told he would die of tuberculosis, but he whipped it with the same kind of drive that kept Norman Catholics dizzy. He angered some, but after a year or so members of the parish could see results. The church was quiet during the Mass, the ritual was deeper with tradition and meaning, their religious experience richer. Parish activity began to come to life. The school improved. The future seemed unlimited.”

This “unlimited future” came to a screeching halt as Father Duffy was diagnosed with cancer. He entered Saint Anthony Hospital for exploratory surgery and returned to the parish for a time. He was seen talking and laughing with the children on the playground knowing full well his time on this earth was limited. With all that he had endured, England during the World War II, a frightening disease as a child, coming to a new and foreign culture, the tumor that took his life in 1962 at the young age of 44 was not an obstacle he could overcome. 

This beloved priest gave his life in service to the Church in Oklahoma willingly and chose to be buried in Norman instead of his native England. It has been said that “he radiated an electric restlessness.” The great tragedy is that his “electric restlessness” and potential could never be fully satisfied or realized.