Monsignor Dan Carr reflects on 55 years in the priesthood

by Jerome Hughes

AS he steps down from his role as St. Johnston Parish Priest after an admirable 55 years of service to the Catholic Church, Monsignor Dan Carr, a Fanad native, reflects on his life in changing times.

Born in 1939 in Ballyheerin, Fanad, Mgr Carr received his education locally before answering his calling to join the priesthood, culminating in his ordination at Maynooth in 1968.

Upon returning to his beloved County Donegal, his first appointment led him to St Eunan’s College, Letterkenny, where he taught mathematics and eventually became the college’s president in 1982.

With 23 years of dedicated service to the college, Mgr Carr transitioned to the role of St Johnston Parish Priest, a position he held for an incredible 35 years until recently.

“It’s the first parish I ever worked in, and the only parish,” Mgr Carr explains. “When I came to St Johnston, I knew very little about it. It was a pleasant change from the busy corridors of St Eunan’s to the green fields of The Laggan and the beauty of the River Foyle.”

Mgr Carr acknowledges the “huge changes” during his tenure, reflecting on the improvement in living conditions and education opportunities for the local community.

“I was amazed at how few children came back to school after the summer holidays. I only realised later that they were all out with potato gatherers in the fields. Children back then had to do that because there were very poor incomes available from government sources.”

According to Mgr Carr, everything changed with the advent of the potato harvester.

“Now we find so many of our young ones, after the leaving certificate, going into third-level education and being involved in so many different careers,” he said.

Coming from an older generation, one might assume that Monsignor Carr would dissent from the perceived liberal views expressed by Pope Francis.

Surprisingly, that’s not the case.

“I’d have great regard for Pope Francis because he talks to the people in the language of the people. It doesn’t matter where you stand; there will always be complainers. It doesn’t matter what he’d say or do; there will always be some people not liking it. That’s human nature.”

However, on the question of whether we’ll ever see women priests, Monsignor Carr takes a traditional stance.

“Well, my understanding is, no. There are certain laws that the church can change. The other ones are ‘from above,’ and we cannot change those.”

Turning to the decline in church attendance across Ireland, Monsignor Carr immediately switched the conversation to the impact of Covid-19.

“I thought it was a fundamental mistake to close the churches at the beginning of Covid. They should have been left open so people could come and go as they wished. As far as I know, there has been no recorded evidence that anyone picked up Covid in a church.”

Regarding the dwindling number of men opting to join the priesthood, Donegal News asked Monsignor Carr if he thinks the situation represents a crisis.

“Take all the missionary countries, where you might have one priest covering the size of Ulster, and it works. We have far too many churches in the first instance.”

Mgr Carr served during a time when the Catholic Church faced many challenges, including child abuse scandals.

“It was a terrible happening. It shouldn’t have happened,” he remarked.

As for retirement, Mgr Carr insists he’s not emotional about it and, when asked how he’d like to be remembered, he responded, “I’d like to think I’d be remembered as somebody who did his best in situations he was involved in, that I’ve done my best.”

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