Update on Dr. Quill in Australia

Dr. Quill at Ghana Seminary Dedication (Collver and Roethemeyer in background) courtesy of Erik Lunsford, LCMS 

5 April 2014 — For Immediate Release

The Rev. Dr. Timothy Quill, Dean of International Studies at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne (www.ctsfw.edu) and Director of Theological Education for the LCMS Office of International Mission (www.lcms.org), fell ill on Wednesday, April 2, in Adelaide, Australia. Quill was taken to Royal Adelaide Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm (subarachnoid hemorrhage). An immediate procedure (craniotomy) to relieve the pressure was followed within twenty-four hours by surgery to repair the aneurysm (surgical clipping). The first week after the surgery is critical and he is being carefully monitored by the medical team. Quill remains in the Intensive Care Unit.

Dr. Quill was traveling with  Mr. Darin Storkson, LCMS South Asia and Oceania Regional Director, to visit Australian Lutheran College (www.alc.edu.au) in Adelaide. After Australia, Quill along with CTS Professor Robert Roethemeyer, Director of Library and Information Services and Director of Institutional Planning and Assessment, were to travel to Papua New Guinea to visit Timothy Lutheran Seminary in Birip and Martin Luther Seminary in Lae for the Chemnitz Library Initiative.

Mr. Storkson, along with Rev. Neville Otto, Secretary and Mission Director for the Lutheran Church of Australia, found Dr. Quill unresponsive on Wednesday before Lenten Vespers and called the ambulance. Professor Robert Roethemeyer, who was enroute to Australia, joined them on Thursday morning before the surgery. Rev. Dr. John Kleinig, professor emeritus of Australian Lutheran College (ALC), prayed with Quill before his surgery. Rev. Dr. Gregory Lockwood, professor emeritus at ALC, and Rev. Dr. Andrew Pfeiffer, Director of Pastoral Education at ALC, also visited Quill in the ICU. Pastors of the Lutheran Church in Australia (LCA) have been wonderfully supportive and helpful during this trying time. Quill’s wife, Annette, and daughter, Katie, arrived in Adelaide on Friday morning after the surgery, followed by Dr. Albert Collver, LCMS Director of Church Relations/Regional Operations, and Missionary Jeffrey Horn, Papua New Guinea.

Quill remains at the Royal Adelaide Hospital. Doctors are currently establishing a timeline for his convalescence and his return to the United States. Dr. Quill, his family, Concordia Theological Seminary, and the LCMS Office of International Mission are grateful for the care provided by the Royal Adelaide Hospital, by the Lutheran Church of Australia, and the many people around the world who have expressed concern and offered prayers on his behalf.