Father Jason Fox likens his call to the priesthood to Jesus’ parable of the man persistently knocking at a neighbor’s door until the neighbor responded.
“It took Jesus three times to knock on the door of my heart until I finally recognized I was being called,” he said.
“The first knock came when I was about 8 years old and I told my grandmother, Sylvia Fox, that I thought God might want me to be a priest. She was faithful and dedicated throughout her life, especially in matters of religion, and she always encouraged me to pursue that calling. She’s perhaps the person who was most influential in my ultimate decision.
“I got interested in other things and kind of put the priesthood in the back of my mind, but at 21 I felt the call again and joined the Legionaries of Christ religious order in Cheshire, Connecticut. The Legionaries are a very strict order – too strict for me, so I left them and again decided I wasn’t being called,” he said.
“I did a bunch of other things for several years and moved to Columbus after my mother died in 2018 so I could be closer to two sisters who live in the area. I began attending Powell St. Joan of Arc Church and one day while attending Eucharistic Adoration there, I heard Jesus’ voice in my heart so clearly that every barrier I had put up inside me to the priesthood crumbled. ‘The time is now’ was the message I heard, and this time there was no doubt.”
He was 45 years old at the time. After contacting the diocesan vocations office to determine his next step, Father Fox took philosophy courses at Ohio Dominican University for a year, then attended Pope St. John XXIII National Seminary in Weston, Massachusetts, which works with candidates for the priesthood who are 30 and older, to compete his priestly formation process. He received his Master of Divinity degree from the seminary on Monday, May 6.
Father Fox grew up in the Toledo area, graduated from Sylvania Southview High School, received an associate degree in law enforcement from Oakland (Michigan) Community College and was close to finishing work on a Bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Ferris State University in Michigan when he responded to his call to priestly service.
“I also took courses in computer programming at Owens Community College in Toledo but decided that wasn’t for me,” he said. “I did a lot of things between high school and the priesthood, waited a lot of tables, but what I enjoyed most was working on or near water.”
When he was about 30, he got a chance to be part of the crew of the Liberty Clipper, a 150-foot traditional gaff-rigged schooner (popularly known as a Tall Ship) built in 1983 in the style of the Baltimore clippers which sailed the East Coast in the early 19th century.
The ship splits its time between Boston, its port of call, and Miami. During the late spring and summer, it serves in Boston as an educational vessel with some charter work. When the weather turns cold, it heads for Miami, where it is used mainly for recreational and tourism purposes.
“I spent a great three years on the boat and faced a different challenge every day,” Father Fox said. “I obtained a license allowing me to be a captain for steam and sail vessels of up to 100 tons, but I think it’s expired by now.”
His longest time at one job came when he spent six years as head of maintenance for the Grosse Ile (Michigan) Bridge Co., which operates a 110-year-old toll bridge over the Detroit River connecting the island community of Grosse Ile with Riverview on the mainland.
“That job put me in contact with a lot of law enforcement officers and made me decide to pursue a career in that area until God’s call changed everything,” he said.
“I thought seminary was going to be a boring environment, but it surprised me how quickly I was able to catch on. It was great to see how ‘normal’ the other seminarians were and I bonded with several of them pretty quickly. A lot of the guys were former military, police, firefighters or emergency medical techs and that makes sense. They came from a background of serving people and found it made them want to serve God and the church.”
His priestly formation included assignments at St. Veronica Church in Burlington, Massachusetts during the winter and summertime postings at Westerville St. Paul the Apostle Church and the St. John Paul II Scioto Catholic Community.
From May 2022 to May 2023, he spent his pastoral year at Columbus Christ the King Church, where Father David Schalk was pastor. “He treated me as an integral part of the parish and I learned plenty about all aspects of a priest’s life – living in a rectory, administration, celebrating what sacraments I could – all the ups and downs of a year in a parish.
“Since it’s a mainly Latino parish, I learned a lot about that culture and went to a few quinceaneras (celebrations of a girl’s 15th birthday). I took Spanish courses from Senora Betty Protz at Westerville St. Paul School so I could work in Latino parishes,” he said.
After being ordained as a permanent deacon in 2023, Father Fox split time between St. Joan of Arc Church and his final year of theology studies. “That last year is mostly liturgy-oriented,” he said. “At my first Baptism ceremony, I baptized a total of 13 children from several families. “I was asked ‘Are you going to be OK with that many?’ and responded ‘We’ll find out.’
“Things went well, and I wrote all the names of those children in my prayer book, as well as the names of all the others baptized during my diaconal year. I’m keeping all of them in my prayers, placing them under the protection of Mary’s mantle.”
Father Fox said Father James Black and Father Stephen Smith, formerly pastor and parochial vicar respectively at St. Joan of Arc, also were pivotal in his formation. “They took me under their wings,” he said. “When I had doubts or questions, they were always there.”
Father Smith was the homilist at St. Joan of Arc for Father Fox’s first Mass. Also taking part were Fathers Schalk and Black and Father Dan Dury, pastor of Sunbury St. John Neumann Church.
Effective July 9, Father Dury will be pastor at both Sunbury and the Johnstown Church of the Ascension, with Father Fox serving as parochial vicar for both churches and Father Smith being transferred from Johnstown to the Scioto Catholic Community.
“Besides being able to celebrate Mass, what I’m looking forward to most about being a priest is being able to hear confessions and anoint the sick,” Father Fox said. “I’ve felt the grace of the Sacrament of Reconciliation so many times and seen so many anointings. Now I have the opportunity myself to be able to bring those graces to others.”
