Walsh University has announced that Reverend Ryan Furlong will become the new University Chaplain, starting July 1, 2025. The decision was made by the Diocese of Youngstown.

Father Furlong, hailing from Youngstown, Ohio, has a background in education, parish ministry, and youth formation. He graduated from Boardman High School in 2001 and pursued a degree in Education from Youngstown State University, completing it in 2006. He taught high school social studies in public schools between 2007 and 2012 before entering seminary in 2013. He earned a Master of Divinity from Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Cincinnati and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Youngstown on August 8, 2020.

Father Furlong was first appointed as Parochial Vicar at St. Charles, now St. Catherine of Siena Parish in Boardman. He currently serves as Pastor of St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in Vienna, St. William Parish in Champion, and St. Robert Bellarmine Parish in Cortland. He also served as Diocesan Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministry from 2021 to 2023. In addition to these duties, he is currently a Chaplain at John F. Kennedy Upper Campus in Warren and a member of the College of Consultors for Youngstown Diocese.

In his upcoming role at Walsh University, Father Furlong will offer spiritual guidance to the campus community, emphasizing a strong Catholic presence. He will be in charge of liturgical events, sacramental duties, and pastoral care, reinforcing Walsh’s commitment to integrating faith and education in line with its Catholic roots.

President Tim Collins expressed his excitement by saying, “We are truly blessed to welcome Father Furlong to the Walsh University family as our new University Chaplain. His deep pastoral experience and steadfast commitment to Catholic education will be a tremendous gift to our campus community. At Walsh, we are dedicated to nurturing the whole person—mind, body, and spirit—rooted firmly in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Father Furlong’s leadership will help us continue to foster a vibrant faith life, where students, faculty, and staff can grow in their relationship with Christ and be formed as servant leaders grounded in truth and charity. We look forward with great hope to the ways he will enrich our community and support our mission to integrate faith and learning in all that we do.”

Reverend Furlong will replace Father Guy Albert Trudel, O.P., who will leave the position at the end of the academic year to join Providence College as a faculty member. Walsh University has also expressed its gratitude to Father Albert Trudel, O.P., and the Dominican Fathers of Youngstown, Ohio, for their dedicated service.