Quinn, Father Robert F., C.S.P, Of Hingham and Winchester, formerly of Boston, on October 31, 2015 after a long illness, age 89.
Father Quinn was the former Chaplain of The Massachusetts House of Representatives. A graduate of Boston College High School, and St. Paul’s College in Washington DC, he was ordained a Paulist Priest in 1953. He spent his first years of priesthood in Layton, Utah at the St. Rose of Lima Church. He returned to Boston in 1956 where he spent fifteen years at the Paulist Center in Boston.
While serving at The Paulist Center, Father Quinn was the moderator of Christian Culture Lectures, which addressed changes in the Roman Catholic Church with the Second Vatican Council and religious, ethical and cultural issues of the times. In 1971, he started The Park Street Corporation, a non profit educational corporation. As president of The Park Street Corporation, Father Quinn brought Boston’s business leaders together to discuss the state of the city and strategies to improve Boston’s public education, health care, housing, courts and law enforcement.
Father Quinn was an Associate at St. Joseph’s Church in the West End of Boston, officiating mass until illness prevented him from doing so. He worked on many advisory committees, including the Governor’s Advisory Committee for Housing and Community Development, The Advisory Committee for the Boston Housing Authority, and advisory committees for the City’s Assessor, and the Mass Convention Center Authority. He was also a member of The Archdiocesan Commission on Human Rights and a member of The Institutional Review Board at The Massachusetts General Hospital.
In 1983, Father Quinn was chosen to be the Chaplain of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Reluctant to take the post at first, Father Quinn served in this role for thirty years, delivering his invocation before each legislative session of the House.
Father Quinn was pre-deceased by his brothers, Rev. Joseph L. Quinn,CSP, William Quinn, Edmund P. Quinn and his sisters, Helen Quinn, Margaret Quinn and Sister Dorothy Quinn.
Relatives and friends are invited to gather at Costello Funeral Home, 177 Washington St., Winchester, on Friday, Nov. 6th, from 4-8PM and then again on Saturday at 9AM followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Mary’s Church, 155 Washington St., Winchester at 10AM. Interment to follow in Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children 90 Cushing Ave. Dorchester, MA 02125. www.stmaryscenter.ma.org