by Laurie Stevens Burke

MAUMEE, Ohio (CNS) – Ordination “meant everything” to Father Scott R. Carroll.

“His dream was to be ordained a priest.” That’s how the 46-year-old priest was remembered by Father Keith Stripe, pastor of his home parish of St. Joseph.

Father Carroll lost his battle with cancer May 10, just two days after Toledo Bishop Leonard P. Blair ordained him a priest at the family home in Maumee.

“He had been totally prepared and called to be a priest, and I saw no reason not to ordain him, even in his last days,” said Bishop Blair. “I’m very proud and happy that he should be numbered among the priests of Toledo.”

Father Carroll had hoped to be ordained with his four classmates at Toledo Rosary Cathedral at the end of June, but because of the severity of his illness, it was decided that he should be ordained sooner, said Msgr. Charles Singler, diocesan director of vocations.

His new ordination date was set for May 10 at the cathedral but was moved up to May 8.

Concelebrating the Mass with Bishop Blair were Msgr. Singler, Father Stripe and Father Kishore Kottana, associate pastor of St. Joseph.

The ordination liturgy was “simply beautiful,” said Father Stripe, describing it as “reminiscent of the early church, when the church was in the house. It was a very intimate ceremony with the bishop, immediate family and a couple of very close friends.”

The priest’s funeral Mass was celebrated May 14 at Rosary Cathedral. At the end of Mass, Bishop Blair announced the creation of the Father Scott Carroll Fund for Seminarian Education and Formation. The fund was created within the Diocese of Toledo’s Catholic Foundation at the suggestion of Father Carroll’s former classmates from Holy Spirit Seminary.

In an interview with the Catholic Chronicle, Toledo’s diocesan newspaper, Father Stripe described Father Carroll as an “unassuming” person who didn’t want to draw attention to himself, noting that even in his last month of battling cancer, he was always concerned about comforting others.

The priest was first diagnosed and treated for melanoma in the summer of 2011, according to his brother Tim. Last December, he learned the cancer had recurred and spread.

“He was never one to complain about his cancer. In times of suffering, he was a witness,” said Deacon Nathan Bockrath, one of Father Carroll’s classmates.