Fr. Carley plans move to Park City in retirement

Friday, Jun. 10, 2016

WEST JORDAN — Father Patrick Carley, pastor of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish, is retiring after 47 years in the priesthood.

The last 16 years of his ministry have been spent at the West Jordan parish, where on June 5 the community offered a celebration for his retirement that started with an outside  Mass at 11:30 a.m.

The parish’s Women of the Worker (WOWs) group was in charge of organizing the celebration.

“Father has been a tremendous asset to the church,” said Jaen Meags, a women’s group member. “He’s seeing the little things and can always keep the big picture in mind. He has been very generous to the WOWs with projects. … We are going to truly miss him. This is a great sendoff. People came from Park City, some Irish people. … We are happy to have a party for him.” 

Fr. Carley was ordained on June 7, 1969 at Saint Patrick’s Seminary in Thurles, Ireland – his hometown. That same year he arrived in Utah.

“I remember encountering very friendly and welcoming people,” said Fr. Carley.

Since his arrival in the United States, Fr. Carley has earned a master’s degree in social work (1987) and a law degree from the University of Utah (1992).

His first parish assignment was to St. Vincent de Paul in Salt Lake City; then he was went to Saint Ambrose; both parishes have parochial schools.

“I liked it a lot,” said Fr. Carley.

He has also served at the Cathedral of the Madeleine, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Our Lady of Lourdes, and Saint Mary of the Assumption parishes. Since 2000 he has been at Saint Joseph the Worker, where he worked to raise funds to build a new church and welcoming center, a project that was completed in 2010.

At his retirement celebration people couldn’t stop thanking and praising Fr. Carley, who has witty humor and has never lost his Irish identity and his strong love of Ireland. Thirty years ago he helped form the Hibernian Society of Utah, a group that promotes the culture and history of Ireland and hosts festivals, lectures, and readings. They perhaps are best known for organizing the annual  Salt Lake City Saint Patrick Parade.

John Welsh, a former chairman of the Hibernian Society of Utah, said that when he and Fr. Carley met in 1970, they became combatants right off because Fr. Carley represented a more liberal side of the Catholic Church than Welsh preferred. But over the years, Fr. Carley “has become my best friend and personal hero,” said Welsh. 

Katie Caruso, another of those who attended the celebration,  said she will miss Fr. Carley dearly, but wishes him the best in his retirement.

“Fr. Carley’s advice has helped me in my life greatly. I hope his retirement will treat him very well,” said Caruso.

Genny Lindley, a St. Vincent de Paul parishioner, was very appreciative to have met Fr. Carley. 

“My son Jim loved him because he is Irish, like my Jim,” said Lindley. 

The retirement celebration included a lunch and the festivities stretched into the evening. Live music provided by Swagger, an Irish rock group, and Mexican music by James Romero y las 3 generaciones delighted the crowd.

“Thank you for the great turn out,” said Fr. Carley to the more than 600 people at the celebration. “This is a great celebratory setting. I’ve been told that the hidden theme of the day is ‘I thought you never leave,’” he added, to which people laughed.

“Happy days ahead; you’ll be missed,” said Tracy Crump, a St. Joseph the Worker parishioner.

“Thank you for all the fun memories,” added Mick Breum.

“We love him. He is the reason that we came to this parish. We are going to really miss him. I wish he wasn’t moving to Park City, but it is a nice drive,” said Rayleen Hollman, who is a member of WOWs.

Fr. Carley will celebrate his last Masses as pastor of Saint Joseph the Worker Parish the weekend of July 23. Then he will be moving to a small condo in Park City, where he expects to be able to help with Mass whenever possible, he said.