Forming a new priest
Ex-accountant Quinn drove Lincolns and loved his secular life but left it all behind for a vocation that "allows one to be happier." This is the first in a series of three profiles of seminarians who will be ordained June 20 to serve as priests in the Archdiocese of San Francisco. May 22: Bill Thornton. June 12: Joseph Previtali.
On the eve of his priestly ordination at 56, Mike Quinn is a late vocation by anyone's definition. But listen to Quinn describe his spiritual path and it is clear the foundations of his calling were set early in life. The key element seems to have been that he grew up in an environment where he knew priests who were good men and who did good work.
The first of these role models was Father William Quinn, Mike Quinn's uncle. A priest of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, now retired, Father Quinn was a frequent visitor at the Quinn home. He was a fun, approachable man who took it in stride when the kids peppered him with questions about his work.
"We always had the same question," Mike Quinn recalled. ‘Did you hear a good confession?' He would always kind of laugh. He would never tell me anything."
Because of men like his uncle, young Quinn never had the fear of priests that others might have felt. "Our faith was kind of fun, it was approachable," he said.
As he grew up the young nephew also came to admire his uncle's stalwart obedience to his bishop and unwavering service to his parishioners.
"He was a fellow who endured," Mike Quinn said. "When he was retired from here he had time to get sick. We he left here he was really sick. We talked about that and he said, ‘I never had time to get sick before."'
Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton and Msgr. Henry Lyne were two other priests who made positive impressions on the young Quinn.
Quinn saw Father Peyton from afar. He was one of a half-million people who attended Father Peyton's rosary crusade in San Francisco in 1961 and inspired families like the Quinns to pray the rosary together at home. The event stands out as one of the three most powerful times that Quinn has "seen the people's faith explode." The other two were a military discernment event at St. Raymond Parish last year and this year's May Day service at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in San Francisco, combining 500 singers and a 30-piece orchestra.
Msgr. Lyne was pastor at Most Holy Redeemer Parish, where Quinn shared altar boy captain duties with his twin brother in the early 60s.
But as much as he was devoted to his faith and knew many admirable priests, young Quinn in no way felt called.
"I went to high school, started dating," he said. "Loved dating. Girls were good. Went tocollege, married my high-school sweetheart. Unfortunately that didn't work out. Came home one day and everything was gone, including her. I guess I was a little into work."
Quinn's work was financial management. He was a Certified Public Accountant enjoying a thriving career and a lifestyle to match. He had nice cars - black Lincoln Marks 7s were a favorite - and a 36-foot boat moored in Sausalito. He was a modern, free professional man leading, he admits, a charmed life.
"I believed life was mostly a meritocracy," Quinn said.
Although he did not know it at the time, the annulment of his marriage and his decision not to remarry aligned him toward his new vocation.
"Being a Baltimore Catechism Catholic, I said you can't remarry," he said. "You only marry once."
Quinn now was developing as an active lay Catholic, teaching religious education at St. Anthony of Padua Parish in Novato and helping out with parish finances. The work grew on him and soon he found himself dropping old hobbies. One incident in the mid-90s dramatized the change he was going through.
His brother, who was active in a group that supported the Navy, asked him if he wanted to jump on a helicopter and take a ride into the bay on an aircraft carrier that was outside the Golden Gate. His answer would have been unthinkable to Quinn as a younger man: "I've got religious education tonight. I can't do that."
Quinn's involvement in his parish was growing to the point where he began to feel a call to enter the diaconate. He saw himself retiring from his job and serving as a deacon in his later years. But two encounters in 1996 pointed him in another direction.
Father Sarsfield Sullivan of Butte, Montana, Quinn's father's second cousin, was an occasional house guest. A remark he made on one visit seemed to foreshadow Quinn's path: "He said, ‘You know, I'm praying for you to be a priest."
Then-Auxiliary Bishop Patrick J. McGrath had become a friend through Quinn's uncle. Quinn told the bishop of his plans to become a deacon and his decision not to remarry. The accountant at this time was bringing his dating career to a close. The bishop put the pieces together and came back with: "Why don't you apply for the priesthood?"
Quinn responded with litany of reasons why that was a bad idea. The bishop listened and let his answer hang in the air: "Why don't you just let God take this one."
And so he did.
Quinn next reached out to another of the good priests he had known all his life, Father Kevin Gaffey, who was pastor at St. Anthony in Novato at the time. "He was a guy who was absolutely comfortable in his own skin," Quinn said.
Father Gaffey, who had become Quinn's mentor, advised him to start praying. Quinn did so and next found himself a seminary applicant in conference with Father Tom Daly, the archdiocesan director of vocations.
He was selected and decided to begin his training. But the doubts continued.
"How many accountants do well in philosophy?" he remembered asking himself. "I've never heard of one, so I'll go to seminary and get this crazy idea out of my head."
He did well in seminary. But still the doubts persisted.
"I found myself in chapel saying, ‘God, are you sure?' I think you might be making a mistake."
The hubris of the question struck him later on. Quinn finally let go of his doubts - he "let go of the wheel" and put it in God's hands.
Quinn's high-achiever personality took well to the task of priestly training. He not only completed his seminary studies successfully but also earned a degree in spirituality from Creighton University. What's more, he renewed both his prayer life and his physical condition.
Quinn's superiors felt it would be wise for him to lose weight. He resisted at first ("I'm not a GQ guy.") However, he came around to the idea when he realized that Father Daly and Archbishop George H. Niederauer were supporting his health as part of his spiritual development.
He dropped 120 pounds and is satisfied with energy bars as a major part of his diet. He puts his success to the goodwill of his mentors. "I've had good shepherds," he said.
In his prayer life, he describes a sense of "awesomeness" that has come over him as he approaches ordination.
"What comes across is the wonder and awe of serving at the Lord's altar and being the conduit of God's will in the confessional," he said.
All seminarians entering the priesthood fill out a form listing their preferences for ministry. Quinn responded that he is open to all opportunities. But he feels as if he may best serve in a pastoral role, much like the men who helped him come this far.
"The number one thing is, I used to think that serving the people of God was a combination of privilege and duty. I concluded it was not duty and privilege, it was only privilege, and if there happened to be a minor duty it flowed from the privilege.
"And so I tend to look at life with a greater sense of gratitude," he said. "I tend to look at all of life now. I see it in color instead of only seeing in black and white.
"It allows one to be happier."
By Rick DelVecchio
From May 15, 2009 issue of Catholic San Francisco.
