Joe Carroll

Father Joe Carroll (April 12, 1941 – July 11, 2021) was an American Roman Catholic priest who led a nonprofit in San Diego, "Father Joe's Villages and St. Vincent de Paul Center" that assists poor, impoverished, and homeless individuals.

Biography Father Joe Carroll grew up in the Bronx, with his parents and seven brothers and sisters, and was an altar boy and Boy Scout. As a child, Carroll lived across from St. Joseph Church. 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. and was ordained to the priesthood. Carroll's efforts to assist the homeless, drew criticism from the Wall Street Journal, and praise in the form of a World Habitat Award. In the 2000s, his organization made bobble-head dolls of him as a fundraising reward for donors. In 2011, Carroll retired. In 2013, Carroll was honored for his efforts during an event in Washington, D.C., on National Medal of Honor Day. By 2017, Carroll had to have both his feet amputated due to complications with diabetes; that same year he began to use a wheelchair to get around. In 2019, Carroll was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from San Diego State University. Due to the effects of his diabetes by 2021 Carroll had lost vision in his right eye. He celebrated his 80th birthday on April 12, 2021, with the release of his memoir, "Father Joe Life Stories of a Hustler Priest". A celebration of life was held for Carroll at the San Diego Convention Center in August 2021.

Father Joe's Villages A Navy chaplain, the command master chief, and other sailors from the , 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. In 1991 the organization became a separate organization independent of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego.