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Father John “Jack” Oldfield, O.A.R., who served as prior provincial of St. Augustine Province for seven years and prior of Tagaste Monastery in Suffern for six years, died Jan. 20 of complications from Covid-19 in the Willows at Ramapo Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Suffern, CNY has learned. He was 87.
Father Oldfield was prior of Tagaste Monastery, 1994-1997 and 1984-1987, and prior provincial of St. Augustine Province, 1987-1994. He also served as a teacher and administrator at Rockhurst College (now University) in Kansas City, Mo., and at Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kan.
Born in Suffern, he served in the U.S. Army before entering the Order of Augustinian Recollects in 1957. He was ordained to the priesthood at Sacred Heart Church in Suffern in 1963.
He earned a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University, the Bronx; a bachelor’s in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of Salamanca in Spain; and a bachelor’s, licentiate and doctorate from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium.
He was survived by his sister, Mary Napolitano, who died March 29.
A Funeral Mass was celebrated Jan. 26 in Sacred Heart Church, Suffern. Burial was in Ascension Cemetery, Monsey.
