Bishops' Bishop

New leader for U.S. Catholics

When young John Quinn decided to enter seminary, his mother recalls, "he made all the arrangements himself. The first I knew about it was when he brought me the papers for permission." Quinn was all of 14 at the time. With similar single-mindedness, he progressed through the ranks to become an archbishop at the relatively young age of 43. Last week in Washington, John Raphael Quinn, now 48, was elected president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops--in effect, leader of the nation's 49 million Roman Catholics.

Conservative Quinn, who succeeds Cincinnati's moderate Archbishop Joseph Bernardin, is best known for administrative skill and intellect, both useful at a time of continuing conflict between the bishops and dissidents agitated about such things as Rome's positions on divorce and birth control. The U.S. bishops' rapport with the Vatican, says President Quinn, is "good, because it's not bad." The U.S. hierarchy has rejected challenges to such Vatican policies as clerical celibacy and an all-male priesthood issued by diocesan delegates at last year's "Call to Action" meeting. But decisions are still pending on proposals made there for reform of the church and its social stance. Quinn says that one major task of his three-year term will be "an orderly plan" to carry out Call to Action recommendations.

He is less likely to welcome any challenges to official teachings. In a speech last month, Quinn gave strong endorsement to the hierarchy's exclusive authority over doctrine. In that spirit, the bishops' doctrine committee last week denounced a much disputed book commissioned by the Catholic Theological Society of America that favors the sexual "new morality."

Californian Quinn is the first person from west of the Mississippi to head the bishops' conference since it assumed new power in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. As a bishop in Oklahoma for 5% years, he earned a reputation for aloofness from his flock, but one of his early projects after moving to San Francisco was a series of intimate "listening sessions" with priests.

Long active in episcopal committees, Quinn won by a vote of 146 to 112 over a relative newcomer, St. Paul's popular Archbishop John R. Roach, 56. Roach was promptly elected the bishops' vice president, giving the hierarchy's more liberal element a voice near the top.

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