D.D. Bishop of Corpus Christi Diocese
Official Portrait of Bishop Carmody
Edmond Carmody’s primary education was in the National School and he spent his high school days in St. Brendan’s Seminary, Killarney, County Kerry. In September of 1951, he entered the Major Seminary of St. Patrick in Carlow, where he was ordained for the priesthood in the Archdiocese of San Antonio on June 8, 1957.
Upon arrival in San Antonio in mid-September of 1957, he was assigned as an Associate Pastor of St. Mary’s Parish in Victoria, but on November 22nd, he was transferred to a similar post at St. Margaret Mary’s Parish in San Antonio.
Subsequent to his later appointment as Associate Pastor at St. Henry’s Parish, San Antonio, on September 16, 1960, he became very involved in scouting so that on February 4, 1965, he was named Assistant Archdiocesan Chaplain of Scouts.
On August 29, 1966, he was appointed Secretary to the Archdiocesan Tribunal and, at the same time, Chaplain of Incarnate Word High School in San Antonio. His service to the Tribunal and to the Sisters continued for seventeen years. He also served as Chaplain to the Texas Army National Guard for six years.
In October of 1967, the late Archbishop Robert E. Lucey named him as his secretary and in February of 1968 appointed him Archdiocesan Moderator of the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO).
Edmond Carmody received his Master’s Degree in Education at Our Lady of the Lake University in 1968, and has his Teacher’s and Counselor’s certificate from the State of Texas.
Bishop Carmody’s Crest
In November 1974, he was named Director of the Family Life Program, a work in which he expended an extraordinary amount of zeal which culminated in the archdiocesan celebration of the Family Year in 1980. His national recognition merited his being named a delegate to the White House Conference on Families.
On June 26, 1978, he was appointed Director of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith and of the Holy Childhood Association in the Archdiocese and, following the death of Archbishop Furey, word was received that he had been named a Prelate of Honor to His Holiness by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 1979.
Edmond Carmody was a lecturer at the Pastoral Institute at Incarnate Word College and Oblate College of the Southwest.
With the advent of Archbishop Patrick Flores, Edmond Carmody was given the added responsibility of Director of Pastoral Services for the Archdiocese.
In 1983, Edmond Carmody went with the St. James Society as a Missionary to Latin America, where he worked for five years as a missionary in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Only a few days before completing his five-year missionary assignment there, he was called back to the Archdiocese by Archbishop Patrick Flores as Pope John Paul II appointed him Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio. He was ordained a Bishop on December 15, 1988.
Bishop Carmody served as Auxiliary Bishop of San Antonio from 1988 until 1992. On May 25, 1992, he was installed Bishop of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas.
Since 1992, Bishop Carmody has served as:
- Chairman of the Missions Committee for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1992-1995
- State Chaplain, Knights of Columbus, July 1, 1993 to July 1, 1995
- Executive Board of the East Texas Area Council, Boy Scouts of America
- Ex-officio member of the Board of Directors of the Pines Catholic Camp, Gladewater, June 14, 1993
- Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters conferred on March 25, 1996, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, Texas
- Member of Marriage and Family Life Committee for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2000
