Mark Kenny Carroll
Mark Kenny Carroll was an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Bishop of Wichita from 1947 to 1967.Biography
One of twelve children, Mark Carroll was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Thomas and Mary Carroll. His father was a police officer. After attending St. Louis Preparatory Seminary, he studied at Kenrick Seminary in Webster Groves from 1916 to 1922. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 10, 1922. He then served as a curate at Immaculate Conception Church in Maplewood and at St. Rose's Church in St. Louis. He was named director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith and the Association of the Holy Childhood in 1924, and vice-chancellor of the Archdiocese of St. Louis in 1929. He later served as rector of the cathedral school and director of Calvary Cemetery, and was raised to the rank of Papal Chamberlain and Domestic Prelate. He was pastor of the Old Cathedral from 1937 until 1942, when he was transferred to .
On February 15, 1947, Carroll was appointed the fourth Bishop of Wichita, Kansas, by Pope Pius XII. He received his episcopal consecration on the following April 23 from Archbishop Joseph Ritter, with Archbishop Paul Clarence Schulte and Bishop George Joseph Donnelly serving as co-consecrators. He was installed at Wichita on May 6, 1947. In 1948 he called for the repeal of the state prohibition law because it was "an unwarrantable infringement" on "reasonable liberty." In 1951 he became first Catholic clergyman in the United States to receive the National Conference of Christians and Jews citation for "promoting amity and understanding among all elements of our pluralistic society." He attended all four sessions of the Second Vatican Council between 1962 and 1965, and became an outspoken proponent of ecumenism and of the use of vernacular in the Mass. He also supported the Civil Rights Movement, and his self-confessed mission was "to preach equality of man and dignity and worth."
He relinquished the active administration of the diocese in 1963. After twenty years as bishop, he retired due to advanced age and poor health on September 27, 1967; he was appointed Titular Bishop of Taparura by Pope Paul VI on the same date. He later resigned his titular see on January 16, 1976. He died from cancer at St. Joseph Medical Center, aged 88.
Bishop Carroll Catholic High School in Wichita is named in his honor.
