Who is Dean Carroll?

A major donor has stepped forward to provide the first gift in a $200,000 campaign to cover costs for the second floor renovations at the Episcopal Church Center in Ocean Beach. That floor will accordingly be named The Carroll Center in honor of the Very Rev. James E. Carroll, dean emeritus of St. Paul’s Cathedral, San Diego.

Some may ask: who is Dean Carroll? Here’s a brief biography in his own words.

“I became the rector of St. Paul’s in 1978, my boyhood parish. We pointed our life and ministry toward being the Cathedral Church of the Diocese, which it was destined to be back in 1949. St. Paul’s became the official cathedral on January 25, 1985 and I was installed as the first dean. When the diocese started in 1973, the Great Hall at St. Paul’s Cathedral served as the worship space. We also had a bookstore and a pastoral office. In February 1983, the Queen of England visited the Cathedral. We had the FBI, the CIA and the police throughout the buildings, checking everything. On the morning of the royal visit, police dogs went through the Cathedral and sniffed every row. Just before the queen pulled up, I heard one security guard say to another security guard, ‘Did you check the mailbox?’ They had to stop everything and search the mail box on the corner of Fifth and Nutmeg. There was no bomb; the queen arrived and worshiped with us. We had Scottish dancers and a young girl presented a nosegay to the queen. The royal visit was a highpoint of my career.”