Voll spent most of his life immersed in theological studies, not just learning, but also teaching and assuming leadership roles in several academic and religious institutions. 

 

Shortly after his ordination, Voll returned to Providence College where he began his long and varied teaching ministry. For the good part of the next two decades, Voll continued his teaching ministry at Trinity College in Washington, D.C., College of St. Mary of the Springs in Columbus, Ohio, Xaverian College in Silver Springs, Maryland, Catholic University and Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, both in Washington, D. C. and Barry College in Miami, Florida.

 

From 1960 to 1966, Voll served as an Associate Editor for The Thomist, a quarterly academic journal produced by the Dominicans of the Province of St. Joesph.  The Thomist was created in the tradition and spirit of St. Thomas Aquinas to promote original inquiry into contemporary philosophical and theological questions.

 

From 1962 to 1964, Father Voll served as President of the recently formed Society of Catholic College Teachers of Sacred Doctrine.  The organization, now known as the College Theology Society, mission is to deliver the best theological education to college students. That mission has translated into a professional society that currently has more than 500 members in which men and women, lay and religious, find a common foundation in their love of theology, both as scholars and teachers. Voll’s publication of “The Objective of College Theology” in Reginald Masterson’s acclaimed book Theology in the Catholic College in the prior year led to him taking a more prominent role in the organization.

 

In the sixties, Father Voll was an assistant professor at Catholic University and then at Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception, both in Washington, D. C.  During this time he was a Contributor Editor to the New Catholic Encyclopedia which was released in 1967.  The fifteen-volume set has been cited by the Library Journal as one of the top 50 reference sources of the millennium and has become a standard in public and academic libraries worldwide.  

 

Beginning in 1966 and continuing until 1970, Father Voll held the position of Editor for Moral Theology for the Catholic Theological Encyclopedia.  The Catholic Theological Encyclopedia was an international encyclopedia project, based on the reorganized staff of the New Catholic Encyclopedia.  Voll along with the other chosen editors initially isolated a multitude of theological topics worthy of in-depth evaluation.  Each editor then sought authors to submit works on each defined topic.  Each author’s submission was then edited and presented by each editor for review to be included in the final publication.  The final publication was released in 1979 as the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Religion with Voll as a Contributing Editor, which included multiple contributions from him on a variety of subject matters in the three-volume set.  

 

Among the most significant of his assignments was as the first rector of St. Vincent de Paul Seminary in Boynton Beach, Florida from 1973-1980. Appointed to this position by Archbishop of Miami Coleman F. Carroll, it was here where Father Voll had what he’d later consider the most fruitful years of his life. While serving in this role, Voll also was appointed as Chairman of the Committee for Continuing Education for the Archdiocese of Miami.  At St. Vincent de Paul, he first re-accredited the institution and restored its ability to retain faculty and students.  

 

Then, once re-established, Voll focused his efforts on making St. Vincent de Paul Seminary a regional and bilingual institution to prepare priests to receive an increasing number of Catholics from Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Mexican communities.  It is from this experience that Voll wrote “Towards a Bi-Lingual Seminary: A Catholic Effort” published in 1977 in Theological Education. 

 

As a result of his work at St. Vincent de Paul, Father Voll was appointed to the Committee of Bishops and Rectors as a subcommittee of the Executive Board of the National Council of Catholic Bishops. The committee met for several years in Los Angeles, Miami, and San Francisco to increase ministry access to people of Latin America. During this time, Voll also served as Chairman of the National Council of Catholic Bishops Committee on Priestly Formation to Holy Trinity Seminary in Texas.

 

He went on to teach at the Pontifical Faculty of St. Thomas (The Angelicum) in Rome from 1981 to 1984, where he taught students from around the world, many of whom were enrolled in pursuit of their doctorate degrees. In the role of dissertation director to doctorate candidates, Father Voll provided guidance to students as they delved into the works of St. Thomas Aquinas, assisting them in successfully completing their dissertations.  

 

In 1984, he returned to Providence College to be close to his aging mother. During this time at Providence College, he was elected Prior of the Priory of St. Thomas Aquinas where he was the religious superior to more than 60 Dominican priests and brothers of Providence College’s St. Thomas Aquinas Priory. 

 

In 1993, Father Voll was elected Prior Provincial of the Dominican Province of St. Joseph, headquartered in New York City, and served until 1997 when he returned to Providence College. In the role of Prior Provincial, Voll was responsible for guiding the mission of the province of St. Joseph. The province was made up of 21 Dominican communities across Kenya and the United States, including Providence College. Associated with the position, he had pastoral care for 300 Dominican priests and brothers who were members of the province.  

 

Father Voll served as a member of the Corporation of Providence College from 1972 to 1988.  He formally retired in 1997.