Jay (John) E. Carrigan

Jay (John) Carrigan received the fullness of life on Thursday, April 22 after a long illness. He was born July 4, 1931 in Springfield, IL to Edward Ambrose Carrigan and Helen Marie Brennan Carrigan. His brothers, Kenneth J. and Maurice J. Carrigan, and sisters Mary Genevieve Curry and Rita Ann McKinley, all predeceased Jay. Mr. Carrigan attended Sacred Heart and Cathedral grammar schools, Cathedral Boys High School and Springfield Junior College before entering the seminary for the Catholic priesthood. After earning a Bachelor's Degree from Mundelein Seminary in Chicago, he joined the Glenmary Home Missioners headquartered near Cincinnati, Ohio. He was ordained a priest for Glenmary in 1959 and was assigned to teach Gregorian Chant after attending St. Pius X School of Liturgical Music at Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart near Ossing, New York. After several years, Father Carrigan was assigned to start parishes in Kentucky and Tennessee, but left the active ministry when the Papal letter Humanae Vitae was published by Pope Paul VI in 1968, continuing the prohibition of artificial birth control despite the opposite position taken by the Birth Control Commission earlier. Mr. Carrigan earned a Master's Degree from Western Kentucky University in 1970 and worked as a family counselor in Kentucky and at Indiana Counseling and Pastoral Care Center in Indianapolis. Throughout his life, Mr. Carrigan was a tireless advocate for justice and champion for the poor. He was active for many years with the Community Faith and Labor Coalition. Upon moving to Robin Run Village, he was a founding member of the activist group Robin's Left Wing. Mr. Carrigan is survived by his beloved wife Paula Barbour, by daughter Cathie (Chris Maroldo), granddaughters Rin and Cybele, and Cathie's mother Norma. A Mass of Christian burial will be held on Friday, April 30 at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, 4600 N. Illinois Street, Indianapolis, 46208. Visitation at 10:00; Mass at 11:00. The family would like to express gratitude to Brookdale Hospice for their care, and for the support of many friends. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Glenmary Home Missioners, the St. Thomas Aquinas Haiti Committee, or St. Vincent de Paul.