Assignment Record– Rev. Carroll Howlin (aka "Pud") Summary of Case: Carroll Howlin was a priest of the Joliet diocese, ordained in 1961. He assisted at parishes in several Illinois towns and he was a teacher and spiritual director at St. Charles Borremeo Seminary High School and College in Lockport. In May 1977 Howlin requested and was granted permission to serve as a mission priest in Kentucky. From then on he was administrator at Good Shepherd parish in Whitley City. Although he worked in Kentucky, he remained a Joliet priest. In 1993 Howlin was accused of sexually abusing a St. Charles student in the 1970s; he was sent for a psychological evaluation and was allowed to stay in ministry. In April 2002 Howlin was removed from ministry after another former St. Charles student accused him of sexual abuse in the 1970s. That accusation was followed by another from a man who said Howlin sexually abused him in the 1970s when he was a boy, during a camping trip. In 2003 Howlin was again accused, this time of having sexually abused two Kentucky boys, who were brothers, in the 1990s. One of the boys committed suicide at age 17. Howlin has been the subject of a number of lawsuits. After his removal he went on to live for many years in a guesthouse of a four-acre compound belonging to "Hills and Hollers Ministries." He was apparently unmonitored and continued to receive a pension from the Joliet diocese. He died in May 2015. Born: April 6, 1934 |
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| Start | Stop | Assignment | Town/Accusations | State | Position | Notes |
1961 Joliet bishop was Martin Dewey McNamara (1948-1966). |
1965 | SS. Peter and Paul | Naperville |
IL | 3/3, 2/4 | SS. Peter and Paul had a school with 1,153-965 students. It had a mission school, St. Raphael, with 196 students. |
June 1965 McNamara was succeeded by Romeo Roy Blanchette (1966-1979). |
June 1967 | Holy Trinity | Westmont | IL | 2/3 | Holy Trinity had a school with 499-483 students. |
| June 1967 | 1975 | St. Charles Borromeo Seminary High School and College | Lockport • Howlin was accused in 1993 of sexual abuse of a former St. Charles student. • Howlin was accused in April 2002 of having sexually abused a St. Charles student between 1975 and 1976, beginning when the student was 15 years old. The abuse is said to have occurred during a mission trip to KY, and in IL. • Another man claimed in April 2002 that Howlin sexually abused him as a boy during a camping trip in Wisconsin in the 1970s. |
IL | teacher; spiritual director | St. Charles had 210-90 students.
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| July 1974 | 1977 | Diocesan Consultor | Joliet | IL | ||
| June 1975 | Jan. 1976 | St. Pius X | Lombard | IL | associate pastor | Per Howlin's personnel file. |
| Jan. 1976 | May 1977 | St. Paul the Apostle | Joliet | IL | 3/4 | St. Paul's had a school with 366 students. |
May 1977 Louisville archbishop was Thomas Joseph McDonough (1967-1981), followed by Thomas Cajetan Kelly, O.P. (1981-2007). The Lexington diocese was formed in 1988. Its bishop was James Kendrick Williams (1988-2002). Ronald William Gainer succeeded Williams (2002-2014), followed by John Eric Stowe, O.F.M. Conv. (2015-). Joliet bishop succeeding Blanchette was Joseph Leopold Imesch (1979-2006).
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2002 | On Duty Outside the Diocese: Good Shepherd Chapel | Whitley City • Howlin was accused in 2003 of having sexually abused two brothers in Whitley in the 1990s. The boys were from an impoverished family. Howlin is said to have paid special attention to them, giving them money and basic necessities, such as clothing and a refrigerator for the family; the boys were expected to provide the priest sexual favors in return. One of the boys committed suicide in 1998, when he was 17 years old. |
KY | 1/1 Administrator | The Directories do not indicate Howlin's whereabouts until 1983. He sought and received permission in 1977 from Louisville archbishop Thomas J. McDonough to work in KY "home missions." Howlin underwent a psychological evaluation in 1993 after an allegation surfaced that he had sexually abused a St. Charles seminary student in IL years previously; a Joliet Diocesan Review Committee decided Howlin could stay in ministry. Howlin is not indexed beyond the 2002 Directory. He was removed from ministry in April 2002 after he was accused of sexually abusing a 15-year-old boy in the 1970s. |
2002 Imesch was succeeded as Joliet bishop by James Peter Sartain (2006-2010), followed by Robert Daniel Conlon |
2015 | Hills and Hollers Ministries | Whitley City | KY | Lived at a guesthouse on this 4-acred compound; served as consultant for mission volunteers. | Per news reports, Howlin was allowed to stay in rural KY after his removal from ministry, unmonitored and receiving a pension from the Joliet diocese. Howlin died in Kentucky May 5, 2015. |
Sources: Official Catholic Directory (New York: P.J. Kenedy and Sons, 1962-2002) • Joliet Diocese Suspends Priest, Allegations Date to '75 Romeoville Seminary Post, By David Heinzmann
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. |