Cardinal installs JP’s new Catholic pastor

(Photo by Patrick E. O’Connor) Rev. Carlos Flor (front) and Cardinal Seán O’Malley (rear) enter Our Lady of Lourdes Church for Flor’s installation as JP’s Roman Catholic pastor on Sept. 22.

By Patrick E. O’Connor, Special to the Gazette

Rev. Carlos Flor was formally installed as pastor of Jamaica Plain’s three Roman Catholic parishes in a Mass led by Cardinal Seán O’Malley at Our Lady of Lourdes Church on Sept. 22.

An overflow crowd filled the Brookside Avenue church and included visitors from Everett, East Boston and Revere, where Flor previously served.

O’Malley presided and was assisted by a large number of priests and deacons who came to Jamaica Plain for the special occasion. As part of the installation ceremony, the Cardinal presented the new pastor to the congregation. The response was a standing ovation from the pews. Various groupings of parishioners from the three parishes also presented themselves to Flor.

In June, Flor took leadership of JP’s three merged parishes, which also include St. Mary of the Angels on Walnut Avenue and St. Thomas Aquinas on South Street.

Flor was born in Villena, Spain in 1967, the son of Carlos and Maria del Carmen Flor. He comes from a family of three and has two sisters.

He studied medicine at the Universities of Alicante and Murcia until he was 25 years old. He prepared for the priesthood at the Redemptoris Mater seminary in Newark, N.J. He was ordained in New Jersey in 1997.

After ordination, he served in three parishes in the Archdiocese of Newark. On loan, he came to the Archdiocese of Boston. From 2004 until his move to JP, he served as parochial vicar at Immaculate Conception Parish in Revere.

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