Joe Carroll (priest)

Carroll grew up in the Bronx, with his parents and seven brothers and sisters, and was an altar boy and Boy Scout.[4] As a child, Carroll lived across from St. Joseph Church.[5] Carroll got his first job in a butcher shop at the age of 8, and would go on to sell Christmas trees and do laundry machine repairs to supplement income for his parents and siblings.[2] As a Boy Scout, he achieved the rank of Life Scout.[4] Carroll moved to California in his 20s.[3] Initially enrolled at St. John's Seminary, in Ventura County; he was expelled for running the seminary's bookstore in a way which earned the bookstore profit after adding non-book merchandise to the bookstore.[2] He completed his studies at the University of San Diego in 1974 and was ordained to the priesthood.[3] While enrolled at the University of San Diego, he attended seminary school in Washington, D.C.[1] That same year Carroll began to collect nativity sets, which at one point the collection reached 700 sets.[6]

Carroll, on the right, speaking to former Representative Clair Burgener in 2006.

Carroll was assigned to a parish church, St. Rita, in Valencia Park.[3] Given the choices by Bishop Leo Thomas Maher of transferring to a parish church in Needles, California, or becoming involved in St. Vincent de Paul, Carroll chose the latter.[1] From 1982 to 2011, Carroll led St. Vincent de Paul Village.[3] In 1984, Carroll appeared in a commercial seeking donations for St. Vincent de Paul which aired during the 1984 National League Championship Series, which gained him national notoriety.[1] Carroll was featured in a 60 Minutes story in 1985, and a Reader's Digest story in 1988.[7] Carroll's efforts to assist the homeless, drew criticism from the Wall Street Journal, and praise in the form of a World Habitat Award.[2][8] In the 2000s, his organization made bobble-head dolls of him as a fundraising reward for donors.[9] In 2011, Carroll retired.[1]

After retiring from day-to-day operations of his organization, he continued to be active in fund-raising activities.[10] In 2013, Carroll was honored for his efforts during an event in Washington, D.C., on National Medal of Honor Day.[11] By 2017, Carroll had to have both his feet amputated due to complications with diabetes;[6] that same year he began to use a wheelchair to get around.[12] In 2019, Carroll was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from San Diego State University.[13] Due to the effects of his diabetes by 2021 Carroll had lost vision in his right eye.[14] He celebrated his 80th birthday on April 12, 2021, with the release of his memoir, "Father Joe Life Stories of a Hustler Priest".[1] In July 2021, Carroll died due to diabetes while receiving hospice care at his East Village home.[15] A celebration of life was held for Carroll at the San Diego Convention Center in August 2021.[16]

A Navy chaplain, the command master chief, and other sailors from the USS Tarawa (LHA-1), volunteer at St. Vincent de Paul Village food shelter in downtown San Diego in 2004.

In 1950, Bishop Charles F. Buddy, then-bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego, dedicated a chapel on F Street in Downtown San Diego to serve the poor.[17] The chapel would merge with a thrift store and became the St. Vincent de Paul Center in the Gaslamp Quarter.[17] In 1981, Carroll took over the organization, and it moved to the East Village.[17] In 1987, the organization opened the Joan Kroc Center which provided childcare, housing, job training, meals, and a medical clinic; this was followed by two other centers in 1989, and 1994.[18] In 1991 the organization became a separate organization independent of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego.[17] In 2011, Carroll retired from leading the organization;[17] that year the organization employed 500 people, and had a budget of $40 million.[3] In 2015, the organization was renamed for Carroll;[17] Carroll disagreed with the name change.[1] As of 2020, it is the largest service provider for homeless individuals in the City of San Diego.[17]

• Cloward, Kathryn (2021). Father Joe: Life Stories of a Hustler Priest. Kandon Unlimited, Inc. ISBN 978-1970163629.