Career
Father Quinlan was ordained priest on May 1, 1958, and was named a curate at Blessed Sacrament Parish in Alexandria, Virginia. He started a new parish in Poquoson, Virginia from the beginning and a Church was built there. He led the Church of the Holy Parish toward retiring a large debt from its expansion.
Father Quinlan was instrumental in bring a Haitian village freshwater well and a school through partnering their parish with Holy family.
He was also the president of the priest senate in the Richmond diocese. The Bishop of Richmond, Most Review
Francis X. DiLorenzo, retired Father Quinlan in June, 2005 from service at Holy Family in Virginia Beach. At another Palm Sunday Mass, "T.Q." drove a three-ton forklift down the center aisle at The Basilica of Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception in Norfolk Virginia. Jet Magazine, August 18, 1977 The "yellow brick road" imagery was a metaphor for Jesus" pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
Father Quinlan occasionally costumed himself as The Grinch or as Superman at the beginning of a Massachusetts
Another endeavor included a psychedelic Mass with lighting effects. On 30 January 2006, The Catholic Virginian (the official newspaper of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond), printed the following regarding French Quinlan:
"The Review Thomas Quinlan, a retired priest of the Diocese of Richmond, can no longer celebrate the sacraments publicly.
He can celebrate Mass privately.
Bishop DiLorenzo said he took this action as a response to Father Quinlan"s behavior that has "engendered anxiety and emotional upset which interferes with an individual"s religious experience."".
