Fr. Celestine Quinlan
From Ireland, where he was ordained in 1929. Arrived in the U.S. in 1934. Accused in a 2003 civil lawsuit of sexually abusing four St. Francis of Assisi in Los Angeles altar boys 1957-1962. His accusers said he also abused other altar boys, and that he “rushed through mass” so he could molest them. One mother reportedly told authorities, after which Quinlan was transferred to Willits CA, which was in the Archdiocese of San Francisco until the Diocese of Santa Rosa was established in 1/1962. Per the plaintiffs’ attorney, the Church told them that Quinlan had been sent to an Indian reservation in Arizona to pay penance for his sins. Quinlan was also reportedly assigned in Delaware, Washington, Maryland and Oregon. He died in 1970 in Bend, Oregon, where he had been working as a hospital chaplain. Listed in the 2004 Los Angeles Archdiocesan Report. Included on the Santa Rosa diocese’s list 1/12/2019, where he was assigned 1962-1968.
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