Joining the Dominicans of the Western Province in 1960, Fr. Basil Cole was ordained to the priesthood in 1966. He finished his theological studies at Le Saulchoir in Etiolles, France earning the lectorate and license degrees in 1968. Some years later, he also received a doctorate in sacred theology from the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome, Italy, writing a dissertation on the relationship between music and morality.

After serving as professor of theology and philosophy at Pilarica College for the Notre Dame Sisters (1968-69) in Thousand Oaks, CA, he was elected prior of St. Dominic's in San Francisco, where he also served as parish priest, a member of the provincial council and lecturer at various institutions from 1970 until 1975.  Elected prior of Daniel Murphy High School community in Los Angeles in 1975, he became a member of the Western Dominican preaching band, giving parish missions and retreats throughout the West coast and abroad. Later, he became an invited professor at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas (The Angelicum), Rome, Italy from 1985-97 teaching in the first semesters of the academic year. Presently he is an assistant professor of moral and spiritual theology at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, D.C.