Francis Quinn

Francis Anthony Quinn (September 11, 1921 – March 21, 2019) was an American Roman Catholic prelate who served as the Bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento from 1980 to 1993.

Background
Born in Los Angeles, California, he graduated from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Mountain View, CA (then the local minor seminary for high school and the first two years of college) and then from St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park, CA (Bachelor's Degree and four post-graduate years of theology studies) and was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of San Francisco on June 15, 1946. He earned an MA in education from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., in 1947 and an Ed.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1962.

Quinn was a teacher at Serra High School, San Mateo, and a counselor at Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, San Francisco, before becoming an assistant superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1955. He was editor for the San Francisco Monitor in 1962 and was appointed pastor of St. Gabriel’s Church in 1970.

Bishop
Under Pope Paul VI, Quinn was consecrated an auxiliary bishop of San Francisco on June 29, 1978, and installed as the seventh bishop of the Diocese of Sacramento on December 18, 1979.

From 1980-1992, seven new parishes, several missions, two elementary schools, and one high school were established. He oversaw a 10-year pastoral plan for the diocese as well as a spiritual renewal program, reorganized the deanery structure, initiated a diocesan pastoral council, and celebrated the hundredth anniversary of the diocese.

Quinn inspired and encouraged women to lead in parish governance, educational, liturgical, financial and social ministries. He also activated lay individuals to continue their formation and assume leadership roles in various groups and movements. He supported the launch of an AIDS hospice and he protested the death penalty on the steps of the Capitol and at prison gates. He also spoke up regarding nuclear disarmament, immigration policies, and many foreign issues.

Bishop Quinn High School in Palo Cedro, California was named in his honor, but it closed in 2008 due to low enrollment.



Retirement and death
Quinn retired in 1993, and spent several years with the Yaquis in Arizona. In 2007, he returned to the Diocese of Sacramento. He took up residence at Mercy McMahon Terrace, a residence for seniors run by the Sisters of Mercy in midtown Sacramento, and continued to serve as an activist for social justice and human rights issues, especially for the poor.

Quinn died on March 21, 2019, at the age of 97. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living bishop in the United States.