AFFIRMING A PRIESTHOOD, ROOTED IN A REFORMED AND RENEWED CHURCH

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Quail, Christopher David

funeral imageJuly 7, 2012

REST IN PEACE

Christopher David Quail, 82, died of natural causes peacefully at his home Saturday, July 7, 2012. He was born February 10, 1930 at Blackheath, London, England the youngest of five sons born to Reginald L.T. and Edith Tunstill Quail. At the advent of World War II the family moved to an Elizabethan farmhouse located at Flatford, a tiny village near the Suffolk coast directly below the flight path between Germany and England. His descriptions of watching aircraft of both sides flying back and forth (and sometimes meeting in the middle) were of great interest to both students and scholars. He was educated in Catholic boys schools and at age 17 entered the Dominican novitiate. His Dominican training culminated with studies at Oxford and ordination. After several years assignments in the North, he was sent to join the Fathers of the English Dominican Province who staffed the Order's missions on the Caribbean islands of Barbados and Grenada. He remained there until 1976 when he came to New Orleans under the sponsorship of the late Father Val McInnis OP for a sabbatical year. Later he applied for and was granted laicization.

Mr. Quail taught religion at local Catholic high schools and Xavier University. His experience as a funeral director led him to seek professional training as a bereavement counselor which, in turn, led to his work as a hospital chaplain. He retired in 1995. Many of his retirement hours were spent reading The Tablet, the English Catholic weekly newspaper, cover to cover. He remained faithful to daily prayers and study. He was an accomplished pen and ink artist and his exquisitely detailed pictures of houses are in collections throughout the area. He was an adult docent at the New Orleans Museum of art and an active member of the Oxford-Cambridge Society of Louisiana and was most proud of his work organizing the Great Debates sponsored by that group. He was married 36 years to Florence Day Quail who survives him. He is also survived by a brother, Peter Quail of St. Georges, Canada, five step children: Henry Burks IV of DC, Bennette Burks of Richmond VA, Sarah Burks Rozell of Highland Village TX, Auxford Burks of Larchmont NY, and Ann Burks Kallauner of New Orleans LA and their spouses, children and grandchildren. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated Saturday, July 14, 2012 at 1pm in the Rogers Chapel of Tulane University, located on Broadway on the Newcomb Campus and a reception following at the nearby Tulane Catholic Center. The family invites his friends and associates to join them at these activities. Interment will be private at a later date. The family suggests that those wishing to remember him do so through the Tulane Catholic Center Building Fund or Bread for the World Arrangements by Jacob Schoen and Son Funeral Home. Guest book may be signed on line at www.schoencanalstreet.com

Christopher joined CORPUS 1984 and attended many CORPUS' National Conferences.