October 13, 2001

Deacon Bob Conlin, Former Board Member
and GLBT Ministry Advocate, Passes Away

On October 13th, CPCSM lost a former board member and a dear friend when Deacon Bob Conlin passed away. In his final years on the faculty at the University of St. Thomas, Bob made history in the local GLBT Catholic community when he helped establish and facilitated a support group for gay students.

Later, when he led the Deacon Program of the Archdiocese, Bob always made sure that the students in the diaconate formation program received sensitivity training about the special ministry needs and gifts of GLBT persons and their families.

We will always be grateful to Bob for the courage he showed and the Christian example he set as he advocated within the Church for sensitivity to the pastoral needs and special gifts of GLBT persons and their families.

Rest in peace, dear friend!

(Note: Please see the following news coverage about Bob Conlin's death from the St.Paul Pioneer Press.)

Published: Sunday, October 14, 2001

BY JOHN WELBES Pioneer Press

In World War II, Robert E. Conlin's military service included
following troops that had captured territory in Germany and helping
establish martial law in German towns.

"That may have been part of his interest, too, in sociology, being part
of the war, seeing the variety of countries and cultures,'' said the Rev.
Daniel Conlin, his son, who is the pastor at the Catholic Church of
St. Columba in St. Paul.

Conlin, 79, who taught sociology at the University of St. Thomas for
38 years, died Saturday. His family and friends described Conlin's
life as one of service, including finding homes for orphans, visiting
prison inmates and later, serving as a deacon at his long-time home
parish of St. Mark's in St. Paul.

Conlin grew up in North St. Paul and received an undergraduate
degree from St. Thomas in 1946. He returned there to teach after
getting a masters degree in sociology from the University of Notre
Dame in 1948. Conlin taught criminal justice and marriage and family
courses.

Monsignor James Lavin, who started teaching at St. Thomas in
1946, remembers when Conlin was new to the faculty and living with
students in the war surplus barracks that served temporarily as
dormitories.

"He was very available to the students'' and well liked, Lavin said.
When Conlin and Marie Sauro married in the early 1950s, "the
whole building came to the wedding. They really turned out for
them,'' he said.

Conlin also worked with the AMICUS program for many years,
writing to and visiting prisoners, usually at the state facilities in
Stillwater and Oak Park Heights, said the Rev. Conlin. He became a
deacon in 1983 and, for a few years in the early 1990s, directed the
deacon program for the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis. His
work as a deacon "was an outgrowth of his lifelong service to
people, the work he had done with infant adoption and also as a
marriage counselor,'' the Rev. Conlin said.

Conlin is survived by his wife, Marie; daughters Mary Jo
Kirschbaum, Margaret Conlin-Duevel; sons Dr. Robert Jr., Peter,
Rev. Conlin, and six grandchildren.

Visitation will be from 4 to 8 p.m. on Monday at O'Halloran &
Murphy, 575 S. Snelling Ave. in St. Paul, with a 7 p.m. vigil.
Visitation also will take place at St. Columba's one hour prior to
Tuesday's Mass.

His funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Church of St. Columba
at Lafond and Hamline avenues in St. Paul.