Father Joe Carroll (1941-2021) helped millions of neighbors in need experiencing homelessness and poverty have access to meals, housing, education, job training, medical care, and more.

Is there such a thing as a hustler priest? Yes! Father Joe Carroll earned that label early in his career - and it stuck. Always a wheeler and dealer, starting from his childhood in the Bronx, his ability to get things done served him well in developing what’s now called Father Joe’s Villages in San Diego, California. This book of stories from Father Joe’s interesting life is heartwarming and heart-wrenching, while also head-shaking and hilarious. From his antics as a youth and a seminarian to breaking new ground and crossing the lines when necessary to get things done to support neighbors in need experiencing homelessness, you’ll come to understand that “hustler” suited Father Joe well. And he wouldn’t have it any other way. This audiobook includes Father Joe introducing each story (chapter) of the book.

About Father Joe

Father Joe Carroll grew up in the Bronx in a two-bedroom apartment with his parents and seven siblings. From childhood, he was entrepreneurially minded, earning money by doing various jobs in his neighborhood, including being a Shabbos Goy for his Jewish neighbors. 

In his early 20s, he decided to move across the country to Southern California, and a year later entered the seminary. Father Joe was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1974 and was a popular parish priest until 1982, when he was assigned to take over San Diego’s St. Vincent de Paul Center (now known as Father Joe’s Villages). Tasked to build a homeless shelter on an empty block in downtown San Diego, Father Joe’s persistence, charisma, and gregarious personality resulted in developing a revolutionary approach to providing housing and services for people experiencing homelessness.