USD Magazine, Winter 2001

TO HOLD USD'S NEW ENDOWED CHAIR IN CATHOLIC SYSTEMATIC

THEOLOGY, ARCHBISHOP JOHN QUINN HAS HAD A STORIED CAREER IN THE CHURCH AND, AT THE AGE OF 71, IS STILL BRINGING CHRISTIANS TOGETHER BY PREACHING A MESSAGE OF UNITY. )By MICHAEL R. HASKINS It's 1953, and a young John Portman arrives at North American College, the national seminary in Rome, and begins theology studies at nearby Gregorian University. Priests from all over the world come to study at the university, so classes are conducted in Latin, the common language of the Catholic Church. After struggling to learn the gram– mar and vocabulary, Portman is worried he won't pass his final exams, which will be given solely in Latin. Then he meets John Quinn. In his final year at the university, Quinn has mastered the language. When approached by Portman, Quinn has a simple answer: "After dinner every night, you and I will walk around the football field and talk, and we'll only speak in Larin." "I struggled at first, " Portman recalls, "bur the more we talked the easier it was. Many students didn't pass their exams that first year, but I received excellent marks. If it hadn't been for John Quinn, I would have been one of those who failed." Fast forward 47 years. Monsignor John Portman and Archbishop John Quinn both have completed distin– guished careers in the Church. And now the kindness and charity of reaching, which bonded chem years ago in Rome, is bringing the friendship full circle. This spring, Quinn will be the first to hold USD's Monsignor John R. Portman Endowed Chair of Catholic Systematic Theology. Highly respected for his years of service, Quinn recently turned his attention to che idea of reforming aspects of the Church to promote greater Christian unity. His views are enlightening to many, controversial to some. Bur none have called his sincerity or