OBITUARY Info:
Carmelite Priest Augustine Carter Dies
The Province of the Most Pure Heart of Mary (PCM), Order of Carmelites, mourns the death of the Reverend Augustine Carter, O.Carm, who died at the age 97 on December 23,2021, in Sun Valley, California.
The funeral Mass for Reverend Augustine Carter, O.Carm, will be at Our Lady of Grace Church in Encino, California, on Friday, January 21, 2022, with visitation at 10:00 A.M. and funeral at 10:30 AM, followed by a reception.
Augustine was born to (the late) Walter Joseph Carter and (the late) Mary Ellen (O’Connell) Carter on July 21, 1924, in Los Angeles, California. His given name at baptism was Walter Peter Carter. He was preceded in death by his parents, his brothers, Michael, Patrick, and Vincent, and his sisters, Teresa Carter Hartfield, and Ellen Carter McDonough. He is survived by his brothers, Thomas, John, and Paul, and many nieces and nephews.
Walter attended Holy Cross Grade School and Mount Carmel High School, where he was Student Body President, and excelled in Academics and Athletics. He then attended Loyola University in Los Angeles, where he joined the U.S.Navy V-12 Program and was selected for entry to the University of Oregon School of Medicine. He was discharged from the Navy in 1946 and entered the Carmelite novitiate and professed simple vows on September 8, 1947, taking the religious name of Augustine. Afterwards, he studied philosophy at Whitefriars College in Auburn, New York, and theology at the Collegio Internazionale di Sant’ Alberto in Rome, Italy, from which he earned a S.T.L. degree. While in Rome, he made his solemn profession with the Carmelites, on October 15, 1950, and was ordained a Carmelite priest on July 8, 1951. He continued his studies at Loyola University in Los Angeles, California, earning a M.A. in psychology; and at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California, earning a S.T.M. in spirituality.
Father Augustine’s first assignment was in 1952 as teacher and athletic director at Mount Carmel High School in Los Angeles, California. In 1959 he was assigned as the founding Principal of Crespi Carmelite High School in Encino, California. In 1966 he returned to Mount Carmel High School in Los Angeles, first as principal, until 1971, and then as teacher for two years. He also served as a spiritual director in the Los Angeles area until 1975, when he took a sabbatical year to study at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, California.
In 1976, Father Augustine served in spiritual direction at Carmel Retreat in Mahwah, New Jersey. In 1979 he returned to California where he served as a spiritual director in the Los Angeles area for the following 6 years, while also saying Mass at Incarnation Parish in Glendale, California for over 20 years. In 1997 he continued in spiritual direction in the Encino, California area, and then was named acting president of Crespi Carmelite High School for a brief period. In 2014, he moved to Villa Scalabrini in Sun Valley, California, where he remained until his death.
May he rest in peace.