A Path to the Priesthood

REV. ROBERT F. CARLTON ’01 FIRST FELT THE CALL to the priesthood as a Rambler and then, later, during his undergraduate years at Georgetown University.

In May 2019, he achieved that dream when he was ordained a diocesan priest for the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“Through the priests that I had met [at Loyola and Georgetown], I saw how rewarding and valuable the life and work of a priest could be,” he told a reporter from Chicago Catholic, the newspaper of the Archdiocese of Chicago, on ordination day.

Celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism

Fr. Carlton was also profoundly influenced by the military chaplains that he encountered while serving in the Navy on the USS Halyburton. The young naval officer came to believe that God was calling him to do the same kind of work.

While teaching theology and English at Fordham Preparatory School in New York, Carlton spent a summer working at Ignatianum University, a Jesuit school in Krakow, Poland. In Fall 2014, he entered Mundelein Seminary. During his seminary years, he spent a summer working as a chaplain at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and visited holy sites in Israel. After his ordination in May 2019, he began a new chapter in his life as a priest for St. John Brebeuf Parish in Niles.

“My first year of priesthood has been a great privilege,” Fr. Carlton says today. “By far the best part has been getting to know and working with people from all over the Archdiocese and learning from them and their stories.” 4 Celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism R

Rev. Robert F. Carlton ’01 (above center) presiding at his first Mass at St. John Brebeuf Parish in Niles on the day of his ordination in May 2019