Fr T.J. Linane, From Abel to Zundolovich, Vol. 2: Biographies of Priests on the Australian Scene up to 1900, 1980, pp 20-21:

Carden, John J., Irish, Golden Jubilarian
Through Many Vicissitudes
The few lines written previously in Footprints have to be revised and added to. And that because of the fruits of research gathered by Dunedin Chancellor, Fr. Peter Mee. (When he decides to pursue his history quarry Peter never gives up). John J. was born in County Tipperary, 1835 (circa), and ordained for the Limerick Diocese in 1866. After two years service on the home mission he came to Adelaide on the same ship as Fr. Michael Kennedy (Southern Cross & Catholic Herald, 20.10.1868). The new arrival got off to an inauspicious start, being appointed assistant to Mgr. Frederick Byrne at Kapunda. Author of a now discarded History of the Church in South Australia, the Monsignor had a blind anti-curate bias. Hence Carden doesn't rate a mention in the Byrne volume. For some reason or other Carden walked out in 1871 and went to the Auckland Diocese without any episcopal recommendation. Bishop Croke accepted the stranger and gave him diocesan faculties. But within a few months Carden took off for Dunedin, and Bishop Moran appointed him to Invercargill. The four year pastorate there saw the establishment of a parish school, with his sister, Kate, as the teacher. Fr. Henri Belliard writing in January 1873 presents a sombre side to the Invercargill situation, claiming that Carden "made himself unpopular" and "that he would be better under the eyes of his Bishop than P.P. It's said that things improve now that the Reverend has his sister with him". Two years later dis-satisfaction became accentuated. The school committee maligned him in the eyes of the Bishop. Moran heeded the complaint and told the man from Limerick, who had come without an 'exeat', to leave. Frustrated in spirit Carden resigned and left the priesthood. (Southland Times, 28.1.1875). He came to Melbourne in the company of Patrick Dunne Moore, seemingly making no attempt to gain a place in the Archdiocese. Very soon he returned to his sister and mother in Invercargill, and to avoid starvation commenced a private Catholic College. Meanwhile Kate had resigned her charge in the parish school, the people acknowledging her service by presenting her with a gold watch and chain. Moran was displeased with the Carden presence, and so he transferred to Wellington where Fr. L.M. Ginaty sheltered him. Carden himself resumes the story: "The clergy provided me with money to go to San Francisco. I asked Bishop Moran for money to go to Ireland where I wanted to join the Trappists at Mount Melleray. He sent me a ticket for the journey. I reached Ireland in May 1878 but the health couldn't stand it. The Abbot advised me to go to the new Mount Melleray in Iowa, USA, and paid my fare. I liked it there but had to leave on account of health. I went to Chicago selling books and doing other jobs...." Helped by a testimonial from Fr. W.J. Larkin, a globe-trotter who'd been in Brisbane, New Zealand, USA and many other climes, Carden seemingly resumed priesthood duties in 1889 at the age of 64. Meanwhile, back in Invercargill Kate had married a Charles Murphy, left him, and commenced a private school under her single name. She had come to N.Z. in the first place in charge of a number of Irish immigrant girls. Father John was very displeased when he learned that she had married and left her husband. The American Catholic Tracings, provided by the Abbey of Our Lady of New Melleray, Dubuque, Iowa, shows that Carden was stationed in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1890; in Montrose, Colorado, in 1891; in Denver Colorado, as a hospital chaplain in 1892. There is an 'into the silence' period from 1893 to 1900. A come-back was staged in 1900-1 when he was stationed at Libertyville, Illinois. Later directories up to 1904 list the wanderer as belonging to the Chicago Diocese. Mgr. Francis W. Byrne, writing from Chicago, had the last say: "The only information we have is that John Carden died on 26.12.1915 at eighty years of age. His last appointment was as Pastor of St. Joseph's Church, Libertyville, Illinois". Or should the last word be left to Bishop Croke of Auckland? "Stultus est et hoc invenies, et ad vinum bibendum haud aptus".
(Footprints, Vol. 2, No. 1)
Ref.: as quoted.