Born in Antigua,[1] Carty was educated at Codrington College in Saint John, Barbados, and in 1945 ordained in British Guiana[2] by the Archbishop of the West Indies.
Having spent the early part of his career in British Guiana, in 1960 Carty migrated to Bristol, England, as assistant priest at St Agnes Church, in St Pauls Parish, to do general pastoral work there.
[1] In September 1965 came Carty’s landmark appointment as priest in charge of St Francis’s Church, Cowley, Oxfordshire, which was widely reported by the Associated Press.
[3] The Cowley Chronicle of September 1965 reported that Carty was "especially interested in religious plays and pageants as a means of teaching the Christian Faith" and that he brought with him his wife and their four children.
Soon after that he complained in a Sunday sermon that the traditional hymns "all tell us to give thanks to God but are mostly written for people accustomed to colder climates".