Scouting through the life of one of Newry's most holiest sons     

CHOOSING to scout through the life of one of the most holiest sons the city of Newry has ever produced,  that being  Edward “Taeve” Patrick Carroll, was Rowan Hand.

   Mr Hand has  paid tribute to the life and legacy left behind by his relative   Taeve who  at 92 years of age has passed on  after dutifully administering his duties as a priest within the parish of Westminster London.  

    Hailing from an unassuming   background on Mary Street the  stones upon  the  path which  Father Carroll  would walk throughout his life  were laid in his earliest days  when he served as the leader of the Sixth Down Troop of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland. 

 It is perhaps  from the time which Taeve spent in the  Scouts that the will to serve God was instilled within him , a will which would see him ordained a priest within the cities cathedral on August 17 1975 following a brief career as a quantity surveyor. 

   This was a will which would serve   Father Carroll well  in his capacity as a parish priest within the Diocese of Westminster   where he ministered for over five decades sharing the good news of Christ to all those willing to listen  as well as seeing  him through at least one attempt on his life.

 Inevitably however  the will of God has  called  upon Father Taeve to return to the kingdom of heaven as his final resting place, with the Diocese of Westminster announcing  that the death of this most of holiest of men took place at the start of last week.

   Father  Teave died at St Joseph's Hospice in Hackney where he had been admitted for end of life care. 

    Whilst there will be many within Taeve’s inner entourage who will lament the last days of their most  esteemed priest, colleague and friend, Rowan shared in the fact that there is much to celebrate about the early days of Taeve’s life right from when he shared a house with him when they were children on Mary Street.          

House on Mary Street

 “Teave was born at  5, Mary Street, Newry” explained Rowan.

“He was the son of a Newry port docker and his mother was Roseanne Carroll.  

“I would have had good contact with Taeve. I grew up for the first seven years of my life in the house that Taeve was growing up in. The family circumstances made this happen. Taeve's mummy Roseanne was very much a second mother figure to myself, my brothers and my sisters and we were very much part of the one family.

“He was a very wonderful man. He was part of the team that founded Catholic scouting in Newry. I was in the scouts as was my brother Ignatius and Rory. Taeve was the scout master.

“Catholic scouting in Newry would have been founded by a man named Brendan Gallagher. Taeve  came up through scouting and became the scout master in Newry before he went of to become a priest.

Summer Camps

“I always remember Taeve as a  being  a wonderful scout master in the scouts . Scouting was his life before he went into the priesthood. The first Sunday of every month the scout troop would line up in the middle of Mary Street outside Taeve's house and we would parade to the 8 O'Clock Mass in the Cathedral. This was a regular thing every month throughout my boyhood days. The name of the troop was the sixth Down Troop of the Catholic Boy Scouts of Ireland.

 “There were about 40 young people in the scouts.Taeve taught us to cook,  and every year we would have gone on a summer camp.  We would have gone to a Castle Bellingham and  Castleblayney  for the Summer Camp, as well as   Rushe County Dublin.”

 Although during the formative days of his adult years Taeve would busy himself by working for a number of different construction firms, it was at the age of 30 that he would fulfill his true calling and be ordained a priest within the hallowed walls of Newry Cathedral on August 17 1975.    

Ordination

“Taeve  started of with Felix O'Hare in Hydepark and then  Gilbert Ash in Warrenpoint. From here he left professional life and went to study for the priesthood.

“When he became a priest London became his parish. He was over 30 when he went to the priesthood but I think he took some time trying to discern what the God he believed in wanted  him to do.

“He was very much at the heart of the London Community. He was a very popular priest there. He almost lost his life three decades ago  in London when he was attacked in his vestry by a vagabond, a person who stabbed him but he survived this.”

Archbishop’s condolences

Also paying tribute to the memory of Father Taeve was Archbishop for the Diocese of Dromore Eamonn Martin.

“Archbishop Eamon Martin has expressed his sympathy to the relatives and friends of Fr.

Edward (Teave) Carroll, who has died in London.

“Archbishop Martin has contacted the Vicar General of Westminster Diocese and has extended his prayerful condolences to the priests of that diocese, to Fr Teave’s relatives and extended Family members and to the Nazareth Sisters who have been caring for him in recent times. May Fr Teave Rest in Peace.”