A HOLY MAN FROM BROOKLYN

 

SERVANT OF GOD FATHER BERNARD J. QUINN, was born in 1888 in Newark, New Jersey, to Irish immigrant parents, one of seven children.  The father, (also Bernard) supported his family as a longshoreman. They were poor but deeply religious and happy

Father Bernard  was the founding pastor of St. Peter Claver Church, the first parish established for Black Catholics in the Diocese of Brooklyn in 1922. Ten years later, in 1932, he opened the Church of St. Benedict the Moor in Jamaica, New York. Father Quinn was also the founder of Little Flower House of Providence Orphanage in Wading River, New York, the precursor of Little Flower Children’s Services. This was an enormous undertaking at the time, in an era when racism and prejudice were facts of life. In his first pastoral letter to his parishioners’ on June 1, 1922, Father Quinn pledged to”…willingly shed to the last drop, my life’s blood for the least among you.”

Bernard attended St. Michael’s school where his elementary school teacher, Sr. Modesta, D.C. had an enduring influence on him by teaching him how greatly Jesus loved him.  Bernard would feel the love of the Lord as an intimate friend for all his life. 

Inspired by the example of his parish priest, Fr. William Richmond, Bernard showed a strong interest in the priesthood and entered St. Charles College, a high school and college preparatory seminary in Ellicott City, Maryland.

Upon his graduation he was not lucky to be provided a place in a seminary to continue his studies for the priesthood in his diocese and was recommended to the Brooklyn Diocese where he entered St. John’s Seminary in 1906, directed by  the Vincentian priests.  While Bernard was very sociable and athletic, his love for Jesus grew deeper..  

 After his ordination to the priesthood on June 1, 1912, Father Quinn was temporarily assigned to several churches and received a permanent position in 1914 at St. Gregory the Great Church in Brooklyn as curate.  He zealously fulfilled his priestly duties and wrote several pamphlets encouraging others.

In the course of preparing two Black women for Baptism in the Church, Father Quinn was inspired to begin an apostolate to Blacks, who he lamented, were neglected by the diocese.  He expressed his interest to Bishop Charles McDonnell, but he could not give Father Quinn an attentive ear, since he was very pre-occupied in recruiting chaplains to serve the American forces fighting overseas in the First World War. 

Father Quinn volunteered for military service and was assigned to France. Shortly after arriving there, the war ended (November 11, 1918), but Father Quinn remained in the country to minister to the sick and wounded soldiers in army hospitals.  After reading "The Story of a Soul", the life of St. Therese of Lisieux, which he found by chance in the library of his army barracks, he was overwhelmed with fascination about the saint.  After discovering that he was stationed in the vicinity of Alencon where St. Therese had lived as a child, he obtained permission to visit her home.  He was the first priest to celebrate Mass there before it became a popular shrine. 

Returning to the diocese in 1919, Father Quinn received permission the following year from Bishop McDonnell to begin his mission to the Black people of Brooklyn, and he took to the streets in search of his flock.   The Colored Catholic Club joined forces with him in raising funds to start their church.  A former Protestant church that had been converted into a warehouse depot was bought by Father Quinn and restored.The building was blessed and dedicated to St. Peter Claver, February 26, 1922. 

With the growing state of homelessness among Black children in the late 1920’s prior to the 1929 Depression, Father Quinn responded by buying land in Wading River, Long Island and setting up an orphanage there for them in 1928.  The local Wading River residents were however enraged by his opening a home for Black children in their community.  The KKK led the residents in a firestorm of opposition against the orphanage and burnt it down to the ground.  Father Quinn was not intimidated by his hate-filled opponents and quickly built a second structure but that too was totally incinerated.  He did not buckle under the forces of hate and courageously stood up to the KKK and their followers, in his unflinching determination to keep the orphanage where it was.  

Through the heavenly intervention of St. Therese, Father Quinn’s life was spared and this third attempt to build an orphanage was successful.  It was dedicated as the Little Flower House of Providence, October 26, 1930.  Father Quinn received from his good friend,  (St.) Mother Katherine Drexel  the generous services of her Congregation, the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, to staff his orphanage and parish school.  They were succeeded in 1937 by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.

Soon after the dedication of the new orphanage, Father Quinn completed his new Parish Institute, a multi-purpose building encompassing the parish school, convent and parish center.  The latter contained a gymnasium with a stage for performances.  There was also an indoor running track, basement bowling lanes, doctor’s clinic, and meeting and storage rooms.  The Beaux-Arts citadel type building was not only prized by the parish but it was the pride of all Brooklyn, receiving a bronze plaque in 1932 from the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce for being "the most distinguished building of matchless proportions to be erected in the borough" in 1931.

 Father Quinn succeeded in achieving high academic standards for his parish school, comparable to the best schools of the diocese.  The sports program at the parish center also excelled in city-wide championships, particularly baseball.  With is open door policy in admitting people to the parish, irrespective of their race or religion, Blacks flocked to the parish center from all parts of Brooklyn and Manhattan to play basketball and other sports. White youths played there as well.  The parish institute became a Mecca for entertainment for the Black community of the area. 

A man of prayer, Father Quinn spent free moments during the day before the Blessed Sacrament.  He found fulfillment in his daily celebration of the Eucharist, which nourished him spiritually and provided the stamina which he bore valiantly for his work.  The rosary was very much a daily prayer and he had a most profound devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Father’s own heart, like the heart of Christ, flowed over with endless outpouring of God’s love for those who were down-and-out, the hapless sinner and all who needed his services. 

Father Quinn died at 52 years of age on April 7, 1940. Thousands of people at the funeral mourned his death but celebrated his passing into everlasting life.