Jesuits in the western United States will have a new leader as of the end of July.
Jesuit Father Sean Carroll, who has been working with migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, will be new provincial of Jesuits West.
Father Arturo Sosa, the Jesuit Superior General in Rome, appointed Father Carroll, 54, who currently serves as executive director of the Kino Border Initiative which provides humanitarian assistance to migrants.
“Humble and zealous, Father Carroll is rooted in Christ,” Father Sosa said in his appointment letter. “He is a visionary with audacious apostolic imagination who can also put ideas into practice, building partnerships and institutional networks for the sake of the greater good.”
Father Sosa said that Father Carroll’s border ministry has taught him how to work across divides in civil society and among Jesuits.
Father Carroll spent most of his childhood in Southern California. After graduating from Servite High School in Anaheim, he earned a history degree from Stanford University in 1988. The next year, he entered the Jesuits. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy and taught social studies at Loyola High School of Los Angeles. He also served as a pastoral minister at Colegio del Sagrado Corazon in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Following his 2000 ordination, Father Carroll served as the associate pastor of St. Patrick Parish in Oakland. He then was associate pastor of Dolores Mission Parish in East Los Angeles while simultaneously serving as provincial assistant for pastoral ministries for two years.
In 2009, after assisting with a study exploring a binational ministry serving migrants, Father Carroll was missioned to become the executive director of the Kino Border Initiative. Named in honor of Father Eusebio Kino, a 17th-century Jesuit missionary, the project last year provided more than 100,000 meals to men, women and children who were recently deported and others seeking asylum in the U.S. Most recently, Fr. Carroll led a $2.8 million campaign to purchase and remodel a building in Nogales, Mexico, to serve as an outreach center.
Father Carroll in 2017 earned a global executive MBA from Georgetown University.
He will replace Father Scott Santarosa, who also served migrants and Latino groups.
The above comes from a Jan. 12 story in the Catholic Sentinel.
The Jesuits good Lord!
Ad majorem Die gloriam [To the greater glory of God]. [Jesuit motto] Fr Carroll seems well qualified for his new position, in my humble opinion.
his background in Spanish speaking countries seems a good asset for the California reality.
His left wing stances are also good for the California reality and the Diocese of San Jose reality.