Hempfield native ordained as priest in Greensburg

The ordination of a new priest is always a special occasion, but Saturday's Mass in Greensburg was particularly notable.

The Rev. Daniel Carr was ordained in his home church, Blessed Sacrament Cathedral. He's the first resident of the parish to be ordained by the Diocese of Greensburg since 1992.

“I've just really felt that I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, and there's so much joy in that,” Carr said.

The crowded cathedral was filled with more than 150 of Carr's friends and family.

Carr, 33, decided to become a priest about six years ago, a time in his life he describes as a “crossroads.”

The Hempfield Area High School graduate obtained a computer science degree from Saint Vincent College and started a small business with some friends.

But when he closed the business five years later, he wasn't sure what the next step should be.

“Priesthood was not on the list,” he said.

But the more he thought and prayed about it, the more sense becoming a priest made.

He comes from a large family of devout Catholics. He's been active in the church throughout his life, as an altar server, choir member, cantor and children's teacher.

“If I don't try this, I'll regret it for the rest of my life,” he realized.

His parents say there were always signs he was destined for the cloth. As a child, he entered a poster-making contest with a drawing depicting himself as a priest.

“There were other moments when we thought maybe he was going to be called,” said his mother, Linda Carr.

His father, Tom Carr, said his son has found his calling.

“It gives my heart a lot of rest because I know for a time Dan was struggling with what he wanted to do,” he said.

There were about six years between the Rev. Carr's decision to become a priest and Saturday's Mass. He went through a lengthy application process and attended seminary, first in Erie, then in Rome.

On Saturday, Carr kneeled on the floor of the cathedral as he was blessed by dozens of priests from the diocese.

Greensburg Bishop Edward C. Malesic advised Carr that the job will be hard sometimes, but worth the difficulty.

“No vocation comes without the cross, but we glory in the cross,” he said.

Ordinations are becoming increasingly rare, and the Catholic Church is facing a priest shortage, Malesic said.

In 2000, there were 101 actively serving priests ordained by the Diocese of Greensburg. This year, there are 51 spread across the diocese's 78 parishes, supplemented by 10 Benedictine priests and 11 visiting from the Philippines.

He touched on the difficulties the Church has faced in recent years in his message Saturday, referencing the lack of new priests and the ongoing scandal that has seen dozens of priests across the nation implicated in the sexual abuse of children.

“We need priests, now more than ever,” Malesic said. “We need priests who will be tenacious enough to outlast the scandal that has cast a cloud over the honor and dignity of the priesthood.”

Carr is the only priest the diocese plans to ordain this year.

There are five members of the diocese training to be priests, according to Malesic.

At the end of the Mass, the newly-ordained Carr administered the Eucharist for the first time, to his parents.

Carr will serve a temporary appointment in Connellsville until September, when he returns to Rome for one more year of schooling. When he returns in 2019, he will be given a permanent assignment.

Jacob Tierney is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jtierney@tribweb.com, 724-836-6646 or via Twitter @Soolseem.