March 24, 2019
Monsignor William M. Carr
Monsignor William M. Carr, rector of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for seven years, died Sunday, March 24, 2019. He was 86 and had been a priest of the Diocese of Wichita for 60 years. Msgr. Carr was born on June 20, 1932, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He studied at St. Louis Prep and Kenrick Seminary in St. Louis before his ordination on March 14, 1959, in Wichita.
Father Carr's first and final assignments were to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. He was named an assistant there in 1959 and then named an assistant at St. Teresa Parish in Hutchinson in 1962. He was assigned as a religion teacher at St. Teresa High School in 1963. He returned to the Cathedral in 1964 and served in several diocesan commissions, including an assignment at chairman of Confraternity of Christian Doctrine in 1969 and director of the Department of Religious Education, before an assignment in 1970 as chaplain of Bishop Carroll Catholic High School. He was also named chaplain of Mount St. Mary Convent in 1971.
In December of 1971 Father Carr was named pastor of St. Mary Parish in Moline. That was followed by assignments as pastor of St. Patrick, Chanute, 1976; St. Paul Newman Center, Wichita State University, 1980; Our Lady of Lourdes, Pittsburg, 1987; and Church of the Resurrection, Wichita, 1989. He was named rector of the Cathedral in 1995.
On May 16, 2001, Father Carr was named Prelate of Honor to His Holiness Pope John Paul II, receiving the title of "monsignor." He retired in 2002 after serving many parishes and on many committees for the diocese.