On December 23, 1922, Boland was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark at the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Following his return to New Jersey, he was first assigned as a curate at in Hillside. He also served at in Nutley. In addition to his pastoral duties, he taught Sacred Scripture and classical languages at Seton Hall Preparatory School and Seton Hall College. From 1926-38, Boland served as professor of moral theology and canon law at Immaculate Conception Seminary in Darlington. In 1933, he became an official of the archdiocesan tribunal with the duty of adjudicating marriages of questionable validity. That same year, he was named moderator of priests' conferences. He was chancellor of the archdiocese from 1938 to 1940.
Episcopacy
On May 21, 1940, Boland was appointed Auxiliary Bishop of Newark and Titular Bishop of Hirina by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopalconsecration on the following July 25 from Archbishop Thomas Walsh, with Bishops William A. Griffin and Bartholomew J. Eustace serving as co-consecrators. As an auxiliary bishop, he served as rector of Immaculate Conception Seminary from 1940 to 1947. In this capacity, he taught pastoral theology and liturgy and lectured on the archdiocesan statutes. He also served as director of the Newark branch of the National Organization for Decent Literature, and as promoter of the archdiocesan synod held in 1941. Following the death of Bishop Thomas H. McLaughlin, Boland was named the second Bishop of Paterson on June 21, 1947. His installation took place at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist on September 18 of that year. As bishop of Paterson, he served as the spiritual leader of 135,000 Catholics in North Jersey for five years. Boland was appointed the second Archbishop of Newark on November 15, 1952. He was installed at in Vailsburg on January 14, 1953. On October 19, 1954, he formally dedicated the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Newark. At the same ceremony, he received the pallium, a vestment worn by metropolitan bishops, from Archbishop Amleto Giovanni Cicognani, the Apostolic Delegate to the United States. Between 1962 and 1965, Boland attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council in Rome, where he was elected to head the Bishops' Study Committee. In June 1965, he was named an Assistant at the Pontifical Throne by Pope Paul VI for "establishing numerous parishes, opening many parochial schools and admitting the laity to active participation in the apostolate of the sacred ecclesiastical hierarchy." He was also a member of the Catholic Mission Board of the United States, chair of the Episcopal Committee, and liaison between women religious and the American Catholic bishops. In January 1969, a group of 20 priests of the Archdiocese of Newark accused Boland of adopting a "white racist attitude" toward African Americans and said he must be charged with "the bigotry of indolence and the prejudice of apathy." Along with these accusations of racism, the group of priests presented a list of demands, which called for the formation of an advisory committee of priests for inner-city affairs, an improved method of screening priests in African American areas, and the transfer of some pastors who have "not proven a predisposition for justice by their performance." In response, Boland issued a seven-page report that outlined the programs the archdiocese had taken in regard to African Americans. He declared, "No one can truthfully say I have not made every effort to bring to reality those plans which I have felt could be of advantage, whether for spiritual or temporal goals, of the disadvantaged in our midst.
He retired as Archbishop of Newark on April 2, 1974, after twenty-one years of service. He died at St. Mary's Hospital in Orange, aged 83. He was buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of the Sacred Heart.
