Carew was born in St. John's, Newfoundland on October 23, 1922.[2] He attended St. Bonaventure's College from 1937 to 1940 and then St. Paul's Seminary at the University of Ottawa. He ordained a priest on June 15, 1947.[3] He earned a doctorate in canon law from St. Paul's in 1950, choosing as his dissertation topic "The Apostolic Delegate".[4]
From 1947 to 1950, he was secretary to the Apostolic Nuncio to Canada, Archbishop Ildebrando Antoniutti.[5]
He attended the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy from 1950 to 1952[5] and then worked in Rome at the Secretariat of State from 1953 to 1969,[6] where from 1963 to 1969 he headed the English-language section.[5] During Pope Paul's visit to the Holy Land in 1964, Carew served as interpreter between the Pope and Orthodox Patriarch Athenagoras I.[7]
Carew was appointed titular bishop of the Telde as well as Apostolic Nuncio of Burundi and Rwanda on November 27, 1969,[3] and consecrated a bishop on January 6, 1970.
Pope Paul VI sent him to Bangladesh in 1972 with the title of extraordinary envoy.[6]
He was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Cyprus and Apostolic Delegate to Jerusalem and Palestine on May 13, 1974.[8] He also held the title Apostolic Visitor to Greece.[5]
Carew was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Japan on August 30, 1983,[9] and he retired from that post on November 11, 1997, upon the appointment of his successor.[10]
He died in St. John's on May 8, 2012.[6]