Daley's primary academic field is ancient Christianity, specifically Patristics, otherwise known as the study of the Fathers of the Church.
[3] In addition to his academic commitments, Daley is a popular speaker, is active in ecumenical dialogue, and serves as the executive secretary of the North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation.
[4] Daley was the first Fordham alumnus to receive a Rhodes Scholarship, which he used to read Literae Humaniores (also known as "Greats") at Merton College, Oxford.
at Loyola Seminary in Shrub Oak, New York in 1966, Daley pursued theological studies in at the Sankt Georgen Graduate School of Philosophy and Theology in Frankfurt, Germany, where he worked as a research assistant to Aloys Grillmeier, a Jesuit priest who would go on to be named a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in 1994.
[12] From 1978 to 1996, Daley taught at the Weston School of Theology and was one of the founders of the Boston Area Patristics Group.
Daley has long been committed to ecumenical dialogue and was one of the signatories of the 2003 "Princeton Proposal for Christian Unity," which was sponsored by the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.
In 2013, Daley was awarded the Johannes Quasten Medal by the School of Theology and Religious Studies of the Catholic University of America.