Father Peter Carota, RIP

Edit: with a hat tip to susan and to Rorate Caeli, for a great and zealous minister of the Lord. Let us pray for the good of his soul. The following story is from New Liturgical Movement.

RIPON [San Joaquin Co., California] — After a decade of shepherding the faithful at St. Patrick’s Parish in Ripon, Father Peter Carota is moving on to the next chapter of his spiritual service to the Lord.

That next chapter is a yearlong sabbatical. His last official day as pastor of the parish is Tuesday, Nov. 13.

Parishioners are holding an official send-off, a “Farewell Gathering Potluck,” for their pastor on Sunday, Nov. 11, at 5 p.m. in the Parish Hall.

Father Carota’s departure is being called a sabbatical, which is a term used when, according to church cannon law, a priest wants to make a change in his ministry such as transferring to another diocese, start a religious order, or join another religious order.

In his case, Father Carota is planning to pursue a dream that he has nurtured for a long time.

“I want to start a Catholic Church television station that has the Latin Mass every day. That’s my dream,”he said.

...

For the last five years, though, the Latin Mass has been a central part of his spiritual ministry at St. Patrick’s, devoting his heart and soul to it. The church is one of just a few parishes in the diocese which regularly offers the Mass in Latin.

Pope Benedict XVI gave his blessing for churches around the world to offer the Latin Mass “if they could find a priest that knew how to do it,” Father Carota explained.

Two years ago, he wanted to start an order of priests who would “go around and tell everybody all the beauty and all the sacredness of the Tridentine Mass which I just discovered five years ago,” he said. “So that’s why I asked for a sabbatical year to do this.”