Rev. Joseph E. Carrico

Summary of Case: Sued in 2003 by four women who alleged that Carrico abused them as children. Carrico, who left the priesthood in 1973 after six years and was laicized in 1974, was working as a lay religious educator in the Louisville archdiocese. He was placed on leave with pay after the suits were filed. Carrico denied the charges in the first two lawsuits but did not comment on others.

Ordained: 1967
Laicized: 1974

     

Start Stop Assignment Town/Accusations State Position Notes

1967

Louisville archbishop was Thomas Joseph McDonough (1967-1981)

1969 St. Barnabas

Louisville

• Carrico was named in a 2003 lawsuit as having sexually abused a 7-year-old girl in 1968. The suit alleged that the abuse occurred at the girl's home on multiple occasions. She and her family were St. Barnabas parishioners. (Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)
March 29, 2003)

• Another woman accused Carrico in 2003 of having sexually abused her in her family's swimming pool in the summer of 1968 or 1969, when she was 12 years old. (Associated Press State & Local Wire
April 1, 2003)

• A third woman accused Carrico in a 2003 lawsuit of having sexually abused her in a neighbor's swimming pool in the summer of 1969, when she was a child. She is the sister of a woman who had previoiusly come forward. (Courier-Journal [Louisville, KY] April 10, 2003)

• The cousin of a woman who had accused Carrico of molesting her of a child also accused him in a 2003 lawsuit of having sexually abused her beginning when she was about 10 years old. (The Courier-Journal, April 3, 2003)

KY

3/3

 

 Parish had a school with 691-611 students.
1969 1971 St. Helen's Louisville KY 3/4 Parish had a school with 821-842 students.
1971 1973 St. Catherine's New Haven KY 2/3 Parish had a school with 191-181 students.
1973 1974 Absent on Leave      

Carrico is not indexed in the Directories after 1974.

Carrico left the priesthood in 1973, and married. He was laicized in 1974. At the time of the 2003 lawsuits he was a part- time religious educator at St Gregory in Samuels, KY, and living in Bardstown. He was removed from that position pending the outcome of the investigation of the allegations.


Source: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1968-1974)

Priests in a Parish: We use the following convention to show a priest's place among the clergy of a parish: 1/2 means that he is the first priest listed in the Official Catholic Directory (usually the pastor) and that there is a total of two priests at the parish. The shorthand 3/4 means that the priest is listed third on a four-priest roster. See our sample page from the Directory.

Note: The Official Catholic Directory aims to report the whereabouts of Catholic priests in the United States on January 1 of the Directory's publication year. Our working assumption is that a priest listed in the Directory for a given year was at the same assignment for part of the previous year as well. However, Kenedy and Sons will sometimes accept updates well into the year of publication. Diocesan clergy records are rarely available to correct this information. The Directory is also sometimes misleading or wrong. We have tried to create an accurate assignment record, given the source materials and their limitations. Assignment records are a work in progress and we are always improving the records that we post. Please email us with new information and corrections.

This assignment record collates Carrico's career history as it is represented in the Official Catholic Directory with allegations as reported in the media. We make no representation regarding the truth of the allegation we report, and we remind our readers that the U.S. legal system presumes that a person accused of or charged with a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Similarly, individuals who may be defendants in civil actions are presumed not to be liable for such claims unless a plaintiff proves otherwise. Admissions of guilt or liability are not typically a part of civil or private settlements. For more information, see our posting policy.

This assignment record was last updated on Dec. 15, 2009.