Early life and education John Joseph Carberry was born in
Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of ten children of James Joseph and Mary Elizabeth (née O'Keefe) Carberry. His father worked as a clerk at
Kings County Court. He received his early education at the
parochial school of St. Boniface Parish in Brooklyn. In 1919, at age 15, he enrolled at
Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception in Queens. He excelled in both
baseball and the
violin at the college.
Ordination and ministry On June 28, 1929, Carberry was
ordained a priest for the
Diocese of Brooklyn by Cardinal
Francesco Selvaggiani in Rome. Following his return to New York, Carberry was assigned as a
curate at St. Peter's Parish in
Glen Cove, where he remained for one year. in
Huntington, New York, for one year. in Huntington, New York, from 1941 to 1945. He also served as diocesan director for radio and television, becoming known as the "radio priest." He helped found the Inter-Church Board for Metropolitan Affairs, the first organization in the United States uniting
Protestants and Catholics for ecumenism and
social action.
Archbishop of St. Louis On February 14, 1968, Carberry was appointed the fifth archbishop of St. Louis. Carberry strongly defended the 1968 encyclical
Humanae vitae, and created the Archdiocesan
Pro-Life Commission. Paul VI created Carberry a
cardinal priest of
S. Giovanni Battista de Rossi a via Latina in the
consistory of April 28, 1969. In 1971, Carberry made a controversial decision to close McBride High school in the largely black
North St. Louis area, while subsidizing a swimming pool at John F. Kennedy High School in
Manchester, Missouri, a wealthy suburb. Carberry moved his own residence from the episcopal residence in St. Louis to suburban
Creve Coeur, Missouri. In 1972, Carberry established the Urban Services Apostolate for inner-city parishes in the archdiocese. Carberry initially opposed the reception of
communion by hand, believing it was irreverent and risked the possibility of recipients stealing
hosts to use at
black masses. However, he later permitted this practice in St. Louis in 1977. Carberry was a vocal critic of the television comedy
Maude, which he said "injected CBS-TV as advocate of a moral and political position that many not only oppose but find positively offensive as immoral. ...The decision to secure an abortion or the decision to have a
vasectomy, even for those who choose them, is hardly a joke."
Later life and death Upon reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75 for bishops, Carberry resigned as archbishop of St. Louis on July 31, 1979. After suffering a
stroke in 1988, Carberry moved into St. Agnes Home in
Kirkwood, Missouri, where he died at age 93. He died soon after his only living relative, sister, Loretto Carberry. He is buried in the crypt of the Cathedral of St. Louis. ==References==