Michael O'Carroll CSSp, who died on Monday aged 92, was a trenchant Catholic apologist and ecumenist before his time. Like many another policeman's son, Father O'Carroll went far in life. Teacher, journalist and author, he worked each summer in France. He travelled widely and wrote movingly about the Philippines and Poland, in particular in his memoirs, A Priest in Changing Times. He was awarded an honorary doctorate for his service to theology by the Pontifical University of Maynooth in 1995.
He was born in Newcastle West, Co Limerick, on June 11th, 1911, where his father, Michael Carroll - the family added the "O" later - was a member of the RIC. His mother was Hannah Dore from Templeglantine. His parents were daily Mass-goers, which may have hindered Head Constable Carroll's promotion. But his son believed he retired when the post-Treaty changeover took place, honour intact.
A more traumatic break followed as Father O'Carroll's mother died in 1922. His elder brother, Patrick, entered the Holy Ghost Congregation and eventually became provincial, before going to work in the United States. Michael followed his brother into the Holy Ghost order. In 1924 he went to Blackrock College and had his first encounter with John Charles McQuaid. He considered Dr McQuaid a gifted teacher, but a flawed archbishop.
After novitiate and University College Dublin, Father O'Carroll spent three years studying theology at the Dominican university of Fribourg in Switzerland.
Despite having asked on three occasions to be sent to the missions, following ordination he was appointed to teach in Blackrock. The drudgery of the classroom was trying for one trained in philosophy and theology, but he reflected: "A better man than me spent his working years cutting and hammering bits of wood . . ."
Father O'Carroll found his apostolate in writing. For 14 years he wrote every editorial that appeared in the weekly Catholic Standard. He commented on the debates and decisions of the second Vatican Council for the Standard and the fortnightly Leader.
He contributed to other periodicals and wrote extensively about mariology, his speciality in theology, and a book on St Joseph. His defence of Pope Pius XII's war-time record involved him in a lengthy debate in the letters page of The Irish Times, and he became the first Roman Catholic priest to speak at a public meeting in Trinity College Dublin.
His friends included Michael Glazier, whom he regarded as the greatest figure in Catholic publishing since Frank Sheed, and Frank Duff, founder of the Legion of Mary, whom he considered a saint. Father O'Carroll records in A Priest in Changing Times that the suppression of the Mercier and Pillar of Fire Societies was a heavy blow to Duff. The dissolution by episcopal decree of those Dublin groups, one seeking dialogue with Protestants and the other with Jews, stemmed from a rigid attitude in the Roman Curia before Vatican II.
It brings into focus Father O'Carroll's relations with Archbishop McQuaid, whose displeasure he incurred. The archbishop was initially favourable to the Mercier Society, but before long he appointed two young priests to attend meetings and report to him.
Father O'Carroll and Leon O Broin met members of the Jewish group, the Pillar of Fire Society, but could only offer them sympathy. "This was tragic. The Jewish people were going through the greatest crisis in their history, the Nazi genocide." While Dr McQuaid was not anti-Semitic, O'Carroll concluded, his attitude towards Protestants was more complex. At the personal level he acknowledged receiving great kindness from Dr McQuaid.
Father O'Carroll believed that Christianity, lived fully, is a source of true happiness.
Michael O'Carroll: born June 11th, 1911; died January 12th, 2004