THIBAULT, DONALD PAUL, O.P.
Jubilarian

Born: Nov 11, 1938
Professed: Aug 30, 1962
Ordained: Jun 13, 1968
Died: Jan 8, 2017

Father Donald Paul Thibault, O.P. died peacefully on the feast of the Epiphany, January 8, 2017, at the Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, NY, at the age of 78. During over forty years of dedicated parochial ministry, Fr. Thibault generously served as pastor in four parishes across the Province. He is survived by his sisters Pauline Goulet (Enfield, CT) and Patricia Boardman (Phoenixville, PA) and Joy Thibault (Rockland, ME), the widow of his brother Robert.

Father Thibault was born on November 11, 1938, in Lewiston, ME, to Alfred Louis and Anne Marie (née Fillion) Thibault and named Donald Gilbert. He attended St. Peter and St. Paul Grammar School in Lewiston, ME, and St. Francis High School in Biddeford, ME. He attended Providence College from 1956-1960 earning a bachelor’s degree.

He entered the Dominican Novitiate on August 29, 1961 at St. Joseph Priory in Somerset, OH, and received the religious name Paul. He made his first profession at St. Joseph’s on August 30, 1962 and his solemn profession at Sea Bright, NJ, on August 30, 1965. He studied philosophy at St. Stephen College in Dover, MA, before going on to the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (PFIC) in Washington, DC, to study theology. On June 13, 1968, he was ordained a priest at St. Dominic’s Church in Washington, DC, by Bishop Bertrand Boland, O.P.

After completing his STL at the PFIC in 1969, Fr. Thibault was sent to teach at Barry College in Miami Shores, FL. In 1971, he was assigned to St. Martin de Porres Priory in Columbia, SC, while he continued his teaching and residence in Miami Shores.

In August of 1972, he was assigned to St. Louis Bertrand Priory in Louisville, KY, where he served as a parochial vicar for eight years. In August of 1980, he was elected prior of St. Rose Priory in Springfield, KY, and served there for two terms. Shortly after his election, he was appointed pastor of St. Rose Priory Church. In August of 1986, after completing his second term as prior, he was assigned to the Holy Name of Jesus Rectory in Valhalla, NY, where he served as a parochial vicar at the Holy Name of Jesus Parish. In February of 1987, he was appointed superior of the Holy Name of Jesus Rectory and appointed pastor of the parish shortly thereafter. In September of 1992, Fr. Thibault was assigned to St. Thomas Aquinas Rectory in Zanesville, OH, where he served as a parochial vicar. In the spring of 1994, he was appointed pastor of St. Dominic Church in Washington, DC, and assigned to St. Dominic Priory. In April of 1999, he was appointed subprior of St. Dominic Priory, while he continued to serve as pastor. He completed his term as pastor in the spring of 2003. While awaiting a new assignment, he assisted at St. Mary’s Parish in New Haven, CT, for several months. In July of 2004, he was appointed Pastor of Holy Innocents Parish in Pleasantville, NY. He was appointed superior of the community the following September. In July of 2011, after completing two terms, he was assigned to St. Pius V Rectory in Providence, RI, where he served as a parochial vicar at St. Pius V Parish.

In June of 2013, he was assigned to St. Dominic Priory in Washington, DC, to provide better for his health care needs. In October of 2016, he moved to the Rosary Hill Home in Hawthorne, NY.

Fr. Thibault’s body will be received at Holy Innocent’s Parish in Pleasantville, NY, at 7:00 PM on Thursday, January 12, 2017. The Office of the Dead will be celebrated at 7:30 PM that evening. Very Rev. Kenneth Letoile, O.P., Prior Provincial, is the principal celebrant at the Mass of Christian Burial which will be celebrated on Friday at 11:00 AM and Rev. Hugh Burns, O.P., will be the preacher. Interment will follow at All Souls Cemetery, Pleasantville, NY.