In 1874 he was elected to the vacant chair of theology and in 1880 he became vice-president of Maynooth and editor of the Irish Ecclesiastical Record, which he conducted with success.

Soon after a contract for £42,000 was signed, but the bursting of the land boom and the failure of many financial institutions made it impossible for any of the subscribers to carry out their promises.

The archbishop travelled the country and met with a ready response, a cathedral fair was held at the Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, which in four weeks yielded £11,000, and by one way and another the crisis was surmounted.

When he allowed himself to be nominated for a seat on the council of the University of Melbourne, sufficient prejudice was left from old unhappy far off things to prevent his election.

In that year he took over the publication of the monthly journal Austral Light, and in 1907 was begun the long series of tracts published by the Australian Catholic Truth Society.

To this society was entrusted the collection and publication of Carr's writings on controversial subjects, which appeared in 1907 in a volume of about 800 pages, under the title Lectures and Replies.

"[1] St. Patrick's Cathedral, Melbourne was his largest accomplishment, but there are many other markers to Carr's lasting contributions, including the parish of Werribee, Victoria, which he established in 1906.