Hail and Farewell Faithful Servants
Msgr. James Heslin and Father Patrick Carroll retire from full-time ministry

Like Juan Ponce de Leon and Hernando de Soto, Msgr. James Heslin can be considered a Florida pioneer. Msgr. Heslin will retire as pastor of Holy Spirit Parish in Jacksonville on June 30, where he has served for more than 20 years. His long and distinguished service began with his ordination at St. Patrick’s Seminary, Thurles County, Tipperary, Ireland, in 1954.

He arrived at the Diocese of Saint Augustine in September 1954, when the diocese incorporated most of the state of Florida. With the exception of the Miami area, most of the state back then was largely rural and unsettled. Msgr. Heslin has seen the diocese, and parishes in Jacksonville grow from a cluster of small outposts to the sprawling urban landscape it is today. He credits Archbishop Joseph P. Hurley for having the foresight to purchase tracts of land in order to expand the number of parishes in the diocese.

“He (Archbishop Hurley) saw the growth potential back when there were no people here,” Msgr. Heslin said. “He had the good sense to buy as much land as possible to grow the diocese.”

Msgr. Heslin presided during a time of great growth. He was pastor of St. Paul Parish in Jacksonville Beach from 1958-1969, overseeing the expansion of the parish school. He was rector of the Cathedral-Basilica in St. Augustine for nearly eight years. In 1977, Msgr. Heslin was appointed pastor of Resurrection Parish in Jacksonville. He was appointed pastor of Holy Spirit parish in 1985 and has watched that parish grow from a few hundred families to more than 1,000 today. He said the growth on Jacksonville’s Southside has been phenomenal.

“There was hardly anything out here when I first arrived at Holy Spirit,” Msgr. Heslin said. “It was literally out in the middle of nowhere. Now there are homes and businesses everywhere.”

Msgr. Heslin also served as Dean of the South Jacksonville Deanery in 1977, a position he held until 1991. And since 1995, he has influenced the growth of the St. Augustine Catholic magazine as a member of the diocesan Editorial Board.

In retirement, Msgr. Heslin plans to continue living in Jacksonville and volunteer at Arlington Community Services, an interfaith organization that provides assistance to local persons in need. And in keeping with his activities in the pro-life movement, he has offered his services to Priests For Life, a New York-based organization dedicated to promoting the pro-life teachings of the church.

“It’s hard to believe that a city boy from Dublin spent so much of his life in the country,” said Holy Ghost Father Patrick “Paddy” Carroll, pastor of St. Ambrose Parish in Elkton and Our Lady of Good Council Mission in Mill Creek. He will retire from fulltime ministry on April 30.

Father Carroll was ordained to the priesthood in Dublin in 1966. In his nearly 40 years of priesthood, Father Carroll served as a missionary in Kenya for nine years, arriving at the Diocese of Saint Augustine in March 1976. He served as assistant pastor at St. Patrick Parish in Jacksonville, Epiphany Parish in Lake City and St. John the Baptist Parish in Atlantic Beach. He was named pastor of St. Ambrose Parish in 1988. He said the greatest pleasure of the priesthood is being active in the parish community.

“It’s been a privilege being part of other people’s lives and their spiritual journey, and it’s helped me on my own spiritual journey,” he said. “People are the same the world over, they have the same concerns, the same struggles – kids, jobs, life. And at the same time, the generosity and goodness of people is the same.”

Asked about his future plans, Father Carroll said he plans to assist more with Retrouvaille, a ministry for troubled marriages, where he has served as chaplain since 1986. He will reside in St. Augustine and plans to split his time there and traveling to his native Ireland and around the United States.

“I’m one of the crumblies now,” he said, affectionately referring to his term for retirees.