[4] He served as a judicial clerk in the Court of Common Pleas in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, from 1973 to 1975, and then worked in private practice.

[1] After feeling called to the priesthood, Fitzgerald consulted his pastor and then entered St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia in 1975.

[5] After his ordination, Fitzgerald's first assignment was as a parochial vicar at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, remaining there for one year.

[3] During his four-year tenure on the tribunal, he lived at Immaculate Conception Parish in the Northern Liberties section of Philadelphia.

[4] Fitzgerald furthered his studies at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he earned a Licentiate of Canon Law in 1989.

[5][6] On May 24, 2023, Pope Francis accepted Fitzgerald's resignation as auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia, his having reached the mandatory retirement age of 75.