The eldest of five children, Joseph J. D'Angelo was born on April 12, 1943 in Brooklyn, NY. He attended St. Malachy's Parochial School and St. Francis Prep High School, and began his studies for the priesthood at Cathedral College in Brooklyn. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Philosophy from St. Bonaventure University in Olean, NY in 1964 and completed his post-graduate studies in Theology at Christ the King Seminary at St. Bonaventure. Father D'Angelo was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in June of 1968 and went on to earn his Master's of Divinity Degree in 1975.

Father D'Angelo became a Police Chaplain in 1984 and served as a Chaplain for several different federal, state, county, and village policing agencies throughout New York. In April 1990, he was appointed as a Chaplain for the Nassau County Police Department and currently serves on the NCPD Peer Support Team. In 1996, Father D'Angelo assisted the Port Authority of New York and the New Jersey Police Department in establishing it's new Chaplaincy program, which he continues to serve on as one of its departmental chaplains.

Father D'Angelo is a member of the International Conference of Police Chaplains and received a Master Chaplain Certification in 1997. He is also a member of the National Center for Crisis Management and the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic Stress and received a Board Certified Diploma in Traumatic Stress in 1999. Father D'Angelo has written several articles in law enforcement publications for the FBI's Academy of Behavioral Science Unit.

Father D'Angelo previously served as the Pastor of the Campus Parish of Long Island and as the Director of the Office of Campus Ministry for the Diocese of Rockville Centre in 1997, working out of Hofstra University's Interfaith Center. He also served as the Chaplain for Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, NY in 2004 as well as the Associate Pastor at the Parrish of Sacred Heart in North Merrick.

Although retired from full-time ministry, he assists by serving mass on weekends while maintaining his service as a law enforcement Chaplain.